The House of Hades
by thein273
Summary: The Seven are now Five, led by the reluctant Nico di Angelo. With a five day deadline, how can they possibly free their imprisoned friends and stop all out war from breaking out on Olympus? It's definitely going to be a bumpy ride... Rated T for cursing and suggestive content. Not Closing Death.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective owners. I own nothing.**

**No More Death lovers, my apologies. It wasn't going anywhere. It stagnated. I wrote myself into a corner and couldn't get out, even by rewriting two chapters. Currently, No More Death is up for adoption. If there is anyone willing to take it on, I would like a sample of a chapter that you are planning to write and a plot-line write out for where you're taking it. By giving you No More Death, I am also giving you Closing Death and Cheating Death, the sequels, if you want to do them. Please PM me for more details.**

**The House of Hades**

Synopsis: The world now tinkers on the brink of Apocalypse. The chosen Seven demigods of the Great Prophecy have separated-the two most powerful of their number lost in the depths of Tartarus. And the only way for the remaining five demigods and their Hades-born guide to save them is to reach Epirus, Greece in five days. Because if they fail, the Doors of Death will never close and a dreaded World War will break out, tearing the mortal world to shreds. Not to mention, Percy and Annabeth would never see daylight again...

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I: _NICO_

Nico couldn't help but feel bitter toward the gods.

First, they form a pact that leads to his mother's premature death and Bianca's and his stay in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, thereby missing seventy years of time while caught in the time-flux-physics-thing-that-Annabeth-could-probably-lecture-him-for-three-hours-on. Then they steal his sister away from him, give him a huge revelation about his godly parentage, and leave again. His father hated him, his step-mother turned him into potted plants every time she PMS'ed, and his big cousin probably secretly plotted his agonizing death for pretending not to know him.

But this was the final straw. They took away his family, and left him to suffer the trials of teenage life and Greek-hero-stuff alone.

He had mended things with Percy. Granted, his cryptic messages and avoidance of him while at Camp Jupiter probably tore things a little, but Nico knew their friendship was salvageable. Percy didn't hold grudges the same way Nico did. Family and friends came first for him, always.

It was his fatal flaw that did it, Nico realized. Percy's fatal flaw-loyalty-had paved a one-way road into the Greek Hell with no way out. He couldn't let Annabeth go, couldn't let her fall alone, so he went with her. Leaving Nico with one last message; _"The other side, Nico...lead them...promise me...__"_

Nico wanted to scream in frustration. How could Percy make him promise something like that? He was thirteen, still three months away from fourteen. He couldn't lead these other half-bloods-people he didn't hardly know, people older, more experienced than him-to a place he had sworn never to go back to. But Percy was so desperate, so accepting of his fate as he clutched that steep cliff that Nico couldn't say no. It was his dying wish. It had to be fulfilled.

But despite the melancholy settling in his chest, Nico nurtured a dull hope that it wasn't over yet. Percy and Annabeth were the strongest demigods he had ever known, and even if Percy's stupidity got them into trouble, Annabeth would just concoct a fool-proof plan to get them back out. Broken ankle or no, she was still a daughter of Athena. No self-respecting monsters would ever challenge her to a battle of wits. Ever.

"Nico?" someone prompted from a ways off. "Nico, are you even listening to me? Nico!"

He started, nearly toppling over in his chair from alarm. Piper snapped her fingers in his face unnecessarily, probably just to tick him off, and looked a little too glib. The daughter of Aphrodite was dressed in her usual baggy clothes and pigtails combo, which on any other girl would have looked embarrassing and stupid. On Piper, however, it was just another one of her seemingly numerous attempts at unbeautifying herself. It never worked. Nico had seen several of her sisters, each one ranging on the attractiveness scale, but Piper blew them all away, whether she liked it or not. Her Cherokee skin-washed with a very light brown hue-was framed by dark brown locks that she occasionally tugged on when she got nervous. Her stained-glass eyes shown with equal parts ferocity and gentleness.

Right now, however, they were all fire. "I realize you're tired, but our friends just fell down a bottomless pit and we would like to get them back, thank you very much. Now would you please tell us about what they're up against?" Piper leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

Nico could feel twelve expectant eyes on him, silently pleading for an answer. He looked around the dinner table at his crewmates; Leo was fiddling with something under the table, Jason pushed his plate away with his forearm, Frank was holding Hazel's hand where he thought Nico couldn't see, and Hazel's face was twisted in concern. In the corner, pretending like he didn't care, was the goat chaperone referred to as Coach Hedge. The others seemed cautious around him, but at the same time, Nico could tell the general census was that he was a laughingstock.

Hedge was five foot even with an even hairier lower body than most satyrs. He was middle-aged with a football jersey on and the ironic clash of a baseball bat in hand, periodically hitting his palm in what was supposed to be threatening. He trotted along like he expected the entire ship to bow at his feet, but it was obvious he had no real control over anything. He was only onboard for the symbolism; Chiron was probably trying to deter the Seven from doing rash things or senseless, spur of the moment decisions under the threat of death.

Nico took a shaky breath and looked back to Piper, chewing his lower lip and trying to not let his fear seep through his carefully maintained expression. "Rough." he admitted. "It's not something either of them have ever experienced before, believe me. It's going to be a living hell for them and they might almost give up hope. Whatever comes at them, it's going to be ten times worse than what's up here. And..." He trailed off, already seeing the looks of abject horror on his crewmates faces. He didn't understand their problems for a good few minutes when it finally dawned on him that he had talked about Tartarus like he was narrating a play. Desensitized, indifferent, monotone.

And it nearly killed him.

He wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The ordeals he'd withstood in Tartarus could not be conveyed through words. It was more than terrifying. It was more than scarring. Dante's Inferno was a walk in the park compared to the Greek Hell. It was not anything meant to be survived. Getting out was not a miracle, it was a curse. It had been a week since his freedom and he was still tormented by the images of fire and ice and all the mediums in between. He knew that if Percy and Annabeth did escape, they would never be the same. It almost destroyed him to think of Percy Jackson without his endearing smirk or well-timed jokes. To think of Annabeth without that characteristic light in her eye whenever architecture was mentioned. To think of either of them without the other.

He shuddered.

Chair legs squealed against the wooden floor. A second later, Nico felt a comforting hand rest on his shoulder and squeeze. "Please," Hazel said. "He just got out. Don't make him relive it."

"If we don't, we might never get Percy and Annabeth back." Jason countered, straightening in his seat and looking at Nico with pity. Nico almost punched him.

Hazel didn't leave Nico's side, nor did she let go of his shoulder when he tried to shake her off. "They'll be fine." she sounded like she was convincing herself. "I know Percy. And from what I've seen of Annabeth, there isn't hardly anything that can tear the two of them apart. But Nico needs to rest."

"No." Nico slowly pushed himself to his feet, bracing his hands against the armrests. His entire body shook from exertion, but he knew what he had to do. "I've rested enough. My cousin and his girlfriend are trapped in Tartarus and I don't intend to stand around waiting to recover while they battle monsters and worse. We're getting them out yesterday, and that is final." He was finally on his feet, much to the vocalized alarm of everyone at the table. "Percy told me to lead you to The Doors of Death, and that is exactly what I'm going to do." He turned to the son of Hephaestus open-mouthed across the table. "Leo, I want you to show me all the controls for this thing. How to watch out for enemies, how to pilot it, how to make hot chocolate if I have to. Everything." He nodded. Then Nico turned to Piper. "There has got to be a map on this thing somewhere. If there isn't, get one. I don't want to wind up lost when we don't even know how much time we have to do this." Piper hesitated for a moment, uncertain, but she nodded too. "Jason," Nico felt strange ordering the older, more experienced boy around, but the praetor didn't look objectionable. "Do you know how to Iris-Message?"

He blinked. "What?"

Nico sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's a communication technique for the gods that half-bloods can occasionally patch through using. What you do is..."

"I can show him." Hazel interrupted suddenly, surprising Nico.

"You? But you've only been around Greeks for a couple of days, and..."

"Percy, Frank, and I ran across Iris during our quest. She showed me how. Well, actually Fleecy showed me, but..."

Nico held up a hand and rubbed his temples. He did not feel like hearing about the eccentrics the Lady Iris was bound to have. "Whatever. Alright, Hazel, you help Jason Iris-Message Chiron. Tell him everything that's happened since the last time you talked to him. But, uh... If there's anyone else with him, don't say anything about Percy and Annabeth. And Jason, I also want you to let him know everything there is to know about Roman tactics. I'm not a big fan of the two camps fighting, but if we don't have a choice, I'd rather our side have an advantage."

Jason bristled, standing up. "What makes you think I'm not rooting for Reyna?"

Nico's eyes flashed and he summoned small animal skeletons around Jason's feet. "Because Camp Jupiter is initiating this war! And if you care one lick about either side, you'll realize that Chiron will be one heck of a lot more merciful to any captured soldiers than Octavian would be to us."

Jason swallowed nervously and shuffled off toward the upper decks with Hazel. Nico could have sworn he heard him mutter something like, "How old is your brother again?"

It took Nico a moment to calm down, but when he did, he turned to Frank. The burly son of Mars was already heading off toward Hazel and Jason. Nico cleared his throat. "Where do you think you're going?" Frank stopped and turned slowly. Nico almost laughed at how clumsy looked. Had there been a lamp next to him, he would have knocked it over.

"I was, uh, I was gonna help Hazel and Jason. 'Cuz I know how to Iris-Message too, you know?"

Nico smiled. "Hazel can do it perfectly fine by herself. And I want you to tell me about this stuff with you turning into birds and elephants and bears."

"And dragons." Leo volunteered, then fell silent when Nico turned a cold gaze to him.

Frank shifted his weight uneasily. "I... well, my ancestor was an Argonaut and..."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I meant is it true? I don't need your family tree, Zhang."

Frank nodded.

"Alright. Then I want you to turn into the fastest, stealthiest animal you can and fly overhead. If you see anything out of the ordinary, land and tell us."

Frank frowned. "But I thought we had sonar or something."

"We do." Leo interjected again. Nico commanded one of the earlier summoned mice to crawl up Leo's leg. He screamed, dropping his pile of wires and metal and swatting his leg frantically. "Really, man? Undead rodents? Is this what we've descended to?"

Nico ignored him. "I don't want to take the risk of something malfunctioning. Machines can always go wrong. A person's eyes almost never do."

And suddenly, Leo was up in his face. "Are you calling my ship _faulty_."

Nico narrowed his eyes. "No. I'm saying it could go wrong. It's a machine."

"People go wrong, too, you know. Machines are actually more trustworthy."

"I trust Frank enough to know he'll tell us if something goes wrong. And I trust a person more than I trust a hunk of metal. And I trust a hunk of metal more than I trust a know-it-all mechanic who doesn't any faith in people themselves."

Leo opened his mouth to argue, but Piper cut him off. "I'll go get that map!" And with that, she disappeared up the stairwell. A second later, Frank was gone too.

Nico and Leo were the only ones left belowdecks.

"Now then," Nico said with false cheeriness. "Why don't you go show me those controls? Hmm?"

Before, Nico hadn't really gotten the opportunity to take in The Argo II. Mostly, everything had been kind of rushed and hectic. Not to mention his weakened state. But now, trailing behind a babbling Leo, Nico appreciated the scenery.

There were numerous portholes belowdecks providing a beautiful view of the blue sky outside. Nico thanked the gods he wasn't afraid of heights, because that really would have spoiled the experience. The only mode of travel he had taken was overland or through the shadows. The freeing sensation of flying was not something he was accustomed to.

The halls were clearly Celestial bronze reinforced, because they glinted when the sunlight caught it like metal. The floor was lined with an orange and purple carpet, but somehow the color-combination was not revolted. Nico suspected Aphrodite involvement with the interior design. Annabeth never would have been able to pull off the coupling. On either side of him were the occasional doors which Leo explained led into the individual crew members cabins, each made with their comfort in mind.

"Of course, I wasn't expecting to have you onboard, so..." Leo looked at Nico nervously like he expected the son of Hades to get indignant over his lack of accommodations.

Nico just shrugged. "I don't care. I'll sleep on the deck."

Leo didn't seem to like that idea. "Uh, I don't think Hazel'll like that idea so much, man. She's kind of protective of you."

Nico scowled and crossed his arms, huffing angrily. "_I'm_ the one who needs to worry about _her_, not the other way around. Gods, why can't she understand that I'm the older brother?" Tiny skeletons popped out of the ground and Leo screeched, scrambling back quickly.

"How can you do that? We're in the air." Leo squeaked fearfully, stomping at the tiny partly formed mouse and completely freaking out. Nico forced the dead back underground.

"I don't really know. Every time I get a strong emotion, the dead start showing up. Either that or shadows start condensing."

Leo gulped. "I'm not sure which is scarier."

"Most people say shadows," Nico maneuvered around Leo and started down the hall toward the last door, which he was told led above decks. Sure enough, a short, sturdy staircase appeared in front of him when he opened the door. He jogged up and opened the hatch, immediately bathed in blinding rays of morning. Nico winced, cursing at the burning in his eyes. Even after being free for several hours, the sunlight still hurt to look at. He had been trapped in a place even darker at times than the Underworld, and no sooner had he gotten out of there than he had been shoved in a bronze jar and suffocated.

He glanced down and saw Leo running after him, calling out. He looked back to the deck and saw Jason and Hazel at the railing, tossing a denarii into the mist hovering next to the ship. Loudly, Hazel called, "Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Chiron the centaur at Camp Half-Blood."

Nico froze as the image of a typical Camp Half-Blood dinner rippled into view through the misty screen. Leo yelled at him to move, but Nico hushed him and listened in.

"Jason?" The old centaur looked flabbergasted and pleasantly surprised when he saw the son of Jupiter. His speckled beard had been recently trimmed, now closely cropped against his chin. His brown hair was also newly cut. Instead of his lower half being hidden in his classic wheelchair disguise, his lower white horse legs were displayed for the world to see. Behind him, several campers cried out in alarm.

Jason looked nervous. He wrung his hands anxiously just out of Chiron's view and didn't meet the apparition's eyes. Hazel was forced to step in instead, which she didn't look happy about. At Camp Jupiter, she'd been taught that centaurs were evil, drunken, and bloodthirsty. Talking to one, even one she knew she could trust like Chiron, must have scared her worse than her curse. "Mr. Chiron, sir," she began, stuttering uncertainly.

"Please, just call me Chiron, child. May I ask your name?" Chiron looked at her kindly, waiting for Hazel to recollect herself. That was the great thing about Chiron: there was no one else alive more patient and understanding.

Nico's sister forced herself to relax with a sigh. "I'm Hazel, sir...Chiron." Chiron smiled, and waited. "I'm from Camp Jupiter, but there's been a problem. There were these spirits, eidolons. They possessed Leo and..." Chiron's face darkened.

"Oh gods," he breathed. "Tell me everything."

And Hazel did. From when The Argo II landed in New Rome to Percy and Annabeth's fall into Tartarus. Beside him, Leo tensed when the eidolons attack was described in hesitant detail. Jason looked just as embarrassed. Even though he knew Leo was not himself when he fired on Rome, Nico felt the urge to wring his neck. Because of him, Nico's only home was going to be destroyed. When Hazel finished, Camp Half-Blood was silent. The ADHD of a hundred demigods was transfixed on her story, which, Nico had to admit, was pretty exciting. Finally, one of the girls from the Aphrodite cabin called out. "So Dumpster Queen is still alive, huh? Just as I thought; letting better people give up their lives for her. Classic Piper McLean."

Nico tensed. Suddenly, Leo surged up from beside him. "Shut up, Drew. Nobody wants to hear your shallow charmspeak. Face it; just because Aphrodite's your mom doesn't mean you're beautiful. It doesn't even mean you're pretty. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I fall in love with almost every girl I meet, except for Piper and a couple of others. But you? Never even crossed my mind."

The Iris Message zoomed in on Drew's bewildered face. Nico knew the pretty Asian girl only enough to know she was narcissistic and could convince people to do whatever she wanted them do just by talking to them. She almost made Nico kiss her one time, in public, just because he'd accidentally made her spill her makeup on the ground. She was the tyrant counselor of Cabin Ten, and everyone (except the guys) were too afraid of her to admit that they hated her guts. But now, Drew had been beaten at her own game. Tears welled in her eyes, mascara running down her cheeks. Everyone watched her, waiting for her reaction.

But then she stiffened and grinned. "Oh honey, you poor deluded thing. You don't know real beauty at all. I mean, just look at you. Always covered in oil, never wearing fashionable clothes. You're a complete disaster. A mess. And, oh, I forgot. A coward. Did you ever do anything on that quest of yours, Valdez? Or was it all spent with you 'helping' by making stupid, useless inventions that get you nowhere fast? You want someone to call ugly, Leo? Take a look in the mirror."

Leo stood there, dumbfounded. "I..." he trailed off. But then he furrowed his brow. "You should have gone to Tartarus instead, Drew. It would have been fitting. A demon going back to her hell." And with that, Leo stormed off toward the masthead and leaned over the railing, muttering to himself.

Great first day of commanding, Nico thought. You're doing a fantastic job.

The Iris Message returned to Chiron, but by then Nico had already returned below decks. He shut the hatch above him, feeling forlorn and guilty. He should have gone up to support his sister, but for some stupid reason, he had just stood there, watching. Why was he so afraid of facing Camp Half-Blood again? They couldn't hate him that much, could they?

But he knew they could. And they had every right to hate him, too. He'd lied to them, hidden Percy's whereabouts, hidden his knowledge of Camp Jupiter, and all but ran away when they got ready to sail. And then, right after Percy and the others risked life and limb to save him, he let Percy and Annabeth plummet into Tartarus. It wasn't fair, dammit. Nothing was fair in life, and Nico was sick and tired of being the runt.

Was he ever going to catch a break?

That's when he heard Frank's dying caw from above the ship.


	2. Chapter 2

**All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

II: _NICO_

Nico threw open the hatch open and was instantly bathed in glaring sunlight. It took several seconds too long for his eyes to adjust. In the meantime, Frank was struggling with some strange feline creature covered in bird-like feathers, blacker than Nico's Stygian iron sword.

The creature let out an ear-piercing cry, and Nico crumpled to his knees, staggering out of the hatch and covering his ears. Frank detached himself from the beast and swooped down toward safety, but he was snatched from midair. It was almost poetic, the way the larger predator took the eagle in its claws and squeezed with absolutely no effort at all. Frank's feathers floated down to the deck.

"Frank!" Hazel's cry spurred Nico to action. Leo had already emerged from the cockpit to watch the fight unravel, face twisted in an expression of horror. Nico started toward him, bound and determined to save his sister's boyfriend, but then the ship turned sharply starboard. Everyone slid, flailing about to catch themselves.

Nico threw out his arms, barely grabbing the railing before he was thrown off. Leo, however, was not so lucky. He tumbled over the side and would have fallen to the blur of earth underneath them had Nico not caught his hand last-minute.

Leo screamed shrilly, and the sound hurt Nico's ears. But he couldn't blame the older boy for being scared. He would probably be just as terrified in his position. He frantically grasped at Leo's slippery hand, but it was coated in oil and sweat. Leo tried to help by grabbing onto to Nico's arm with his other hand, but it still wasn't enough. He was going to fall.

How could this be happening? Nico mused to himself, struggling to haul Leo back onboard. Not even a day after Percy stood in this very same place, clinging to Annabeth for dear life, Nico was forced to fight for Leo's survival. The son of Hephaestus was screaming at him; "Don't drop me! Don't let me go! Please, no!"

Nico would have lent his other arm to the fight, but he was too busy gripping the railing of the ship so he didn't plummet toward his death, too. His muscles burned from the struggle. He still wasn't fully recovered from his ordeal, and this was not something his battered and bruised body appreciated. He was being dragged down with the mechanic. He hesitated on calling for help, knowing Hazel would probably ignore him in favor of helping Frank. But he called anyway. "Help! Somebody! We're going to fall!"

"Oh gods!" It wasn't Hazel. It was Piper. She slid over to Nico and the dangling Valdez and reached over, supporting herself on Nico's arm so she didn't fall. The effort was debilitating. Shadows closed in around his vision, but it wasn't because he was getting moody. He was blacking out. He forced himself to stay conscious, but so much strain was being put on him at once, and Nico couldn't take it.

Hazel was still screaming, and shrill cries issued from a few feet away from him. They should have sounded closer than they did, but those sounds seemed so distant Nico could hardly hear them. His knees trembled, arm quaking uncontrollably. He blinked away the darkness about to seal him in, but it came back immediately after. Piper overextended herself beside him, finally lifting Leo over the edge and on the ship. All three of them collapsed against the side of the ship, held against the railing by gravity.

Nico blinked desperately, seeing the all-too-familiar walls of darkness closing in around his vision. He shook his head, hoping it would clear, but it only fogged up worse. Piper and Leo rose on either side of him, spurred forward by the faint cries for help from Hazel on the either side of the ship. Nico blinked again, keeping the walls back, and struggled to make out his sister's silhouette. She had her _spatha_ drawn and wet with golden blood, but she was not without her battle wounds; a bloody gash on her left arm that dripped onto the ground. Anger burned in the pit of Nico's stomach when he realized that the monster - a gryphon, he remembered - had injured her. He staggered to his feet and tried to run to her aid, only to be thrown against the railing again as the ship shuddered dangerously.

Leo grabbed his collar to stop him from going over the side, calling over the wind and screams, "_I've got to fly this thing. Can you fight?_" More than anything, Nico wanted to tell him that no, he couldn't fight. But the crew was counting on him, and whether he knew it or not, Percy was too. He swallowed back his fear and nodded, unsheathing his sword. Without waiting another moment, Leo ran off, clinging to the railing, and shouted, "Festus! Tilt port side thirty-five degrees! Aft seven!"

Instantly, the ship righted itself. Nico lurched forward, unbalanced by the sudden movement. Hazel faltered, dropping her sword and nearly collapsing. It took him longer than it should have to figure out what was wrong; she was seasick. "Hazel!" Seeing his sister in danger sent adrenaline surging through his veins and Nico charged the gryphon as it swooped in for the fatal blow. Jason was already battling a second monster, sending gusts of wind at it to confuse it and knock it off course. So far it was working, but the son of Jupiter looked paler than Hazel.

Stabbing straight into the air with a frenzied yell, Nico dispatched his sister's advisory. Unfortunately, that tiny burst of energy was all he had left. He collapsed beside his sister. "Nico," She coughed. "You...shouldn't fight." He reached out and squeezed her hand, managing a strained smile.

He looked up in bewilderment as more cries filled the air. Three more gryphons attacked the ship, one of them the size of a horse. When two turned their attention to the defenseless demigods lying on the ground, Nico threw his body over Hazel's and braced himself for extreme pain. But Piper's musical voice came to his aid at exactly the right time. "Stop!" He glanced over his shoulder, still shielding Hazel's head, as the daughter of Aphrodite leapt forward, arms up in surrender with her knife readied. "You will not hurt anyone on this ship."

For a moment, the gryphons looked confused. They hovered above the ship and stared at the girl as if questioning her judgement. That bought Nico and his sister enough time to recover and scramble away. But as soon as the monsters noticed the trick, they lunged again. Piper slit one across the throat with her knife but the other slammed into her and knocked her to the deck. She swore in pain and doubled over. Before the gryphon could sink its claws into her, however, a single arrow whistled through the air and vaporized it. The arrow vanished as quickly as it had appeared, apparently by magic.

Hazel looked over, already crying happily, "Frank!" But there was no one standing where the archer should have been. And Jason was several feet away, fighting for his life against two gryphons, one of which being the massive horse-sized abomination. Hazel looked back to her brother, eyes searching for an answer. He shrugged and tried to stand, only to feel the rush of energy _out_ of his limbs. Adrenaline made him heady, his ADHD screaming for action. But it wasn't going to happen. He was done. Hazel grabbed his arm and strained to haul him back up, and even though Nico was legitimately trying to stand, pudding had been substituted for his legs. He couldn't support his weight.

"Go," he ordered hoarsely, collapsing against the deck and reaching over to grasp his sword tightly. More gryphons were on the way, and he was useless in his condition. Hazel opened her mouth to argue with him, but Nico forced his fingers slack and slipped through her grip. He fell hard. "I can't fight. Go," Hazel shook her head. "Go!" She pursed her lips and glanced up at an equally reluctant Piper. But the charmspeaker still ran off toward the fight and her boyfriend, dragging Hazel along with her. Her protests were lost in the wind.

Nico, with difficulty, crawled toward the hatch, hoping to take refuge belowdecks where he couldn't be a hindrance. But the reinforcing gryphons had other ideas. They all came down on him with swift pecking motions, giving him too little time to defend. Four of them overwhelmed him, deafening him with their cries. Frantically, he slashed the air with his sword. He was too weak to actually remember the moves and blocks, so he resolved himself with hacking at the beasts and forcing them to retreat, fluttering up just out of reach for a handful of seconds before trying again.

Three more arrows met their mark. Again, Nico looked for their source, but Frank was still airborne, now a large dragon (which, by reason, should have given them the fight hands-down) and in nowhere near the vicinity to help him. Otherwise, there were Hazel, Piper, and Jason fighting against what was now six gryphons. Leo was throwing the ship to the side occasionally to confuse the birds, but it hurt the crew more. They were constantly slipping and falling down.

Gradually, the fight was tilting favor, the scales working for them. The gryphons, although constantly reinforced, were weakening and lessening. The last gryphon was fighting as hard as Nico, but a final arrow sent it back to Tartarus, where Nico prayed it would stay.

He sagged against the ship, exhausted. He could hear laughter - human, thank the gods - from the others. They were chasing off the last three hybrids with victorious screams and proud claps on the back. Jason and Piper shared a brief, impassioned kiss before pulling apart and Frank had landed, a man once more (much to Hazel's joy). They had won.

Nico chuckled in relief and let his head fall back against the deck. The last thing he saw before blacking out was a golden burst of light.

* * *

**I know this is a short chapter, but I have justification. I had little to no inspiration and had to fight to write it. I had the second chapter pre-written when I posted the first, but I was an idiot and erased it by accident. The result is this less-than-stellar attempt, but do give me some slack (and help). Although I was ignorant to it until recently, my fight scenes are lacking and need some serious work. Brevity, hopefully, made this chapter more powerful. I do have a couple of questions to ask you:**

**1. I tried to cut down on superfluous words so the scene still flowed but moved more quickly. On a scale of 1-10, how did I do? Take into consideration the clarity of what happens throughout the fight - was there any moment when you weren't sure how one thing had lent itself to another? Was it ever awkward or harsh to read? Did it seem as though the writing was _too_ rushed, or perhaps too slow?**

**2. I proof-read this chapter rather furiously, but I am afraid I still missed a few errors. If you notice any, I would appreciate knowing. **

**3. How was the realism? Did you feel like a third-party to this fight as it was taking place or did the writing suck you in and enthrall you? You might have to reread with this in mind to be sure, but I hope the impact would be memorable. **

**4. Did the characters did irrational or out of sorts for a fight? I do try to capture the spirit of Riordan's creations when I emulate him, but they were forged of his own mind and therefore any other imitator falls dreadfully short. But if you can pinpoint a character trait that I misused or misplaced, please do tell me so I can work to correct it in future chapters. If all you can tell me is that they felt _off_, then that's fine too.**

**5. Do you have any suggestions as to good books with quality fight scenes in them? I realize this is slightly 'round-the-bend from my other inquires, but I would like recommendations. Firstly, I'm book-less at the moment and feel empty because of it. And secondly, I really need some reference points. My preferences are fantasy and dystopian science fiction, but other genres are always worth a shot. **

**I would prefer that you PM these answers, but if you choose to review instead, that's fine. I would appreciate answers, however. I understand that some of you don't feel qualified to offer critique or are simply surface readers that don't notice the subtleties in a work. And that is not a bad thing, mind you; it just means that you can't give someone the specificity they need to truly improve. But so long as you don't rail me needlessly, vague "feelings" are equally okay. I received a rewarding string of reviews for my first chapter, which made me rather pleased with myself, but only small tidbits of advice. Any advice is great, but the more nick-picky you get about it, the better. Sometimes it can be difficult sifting through the biases and finding the core problem, but if you can't, I will. And I will always take your suggestions into account, I just might not use them.**

**As some of my veteran readers can testify, I make a habit of replying to reviews. I can't always, so don't take it personal if I don't. But especially if someone shows a trend of reviewing every chapter or every other chapter, I will eventually get to them. I befriended "imawordbender" that way and have become acquainted with other fanfiction authors through it. I do find communication with other PJO fans and writers extremely rewarding. **

**As you might note from the text above, I come across as rather formal. I'm not, in reality. As a matter of fact, I can be rather strange and quirky in my Author's Notes, but considering this is your first exposure to me in depth, I toned down the me-ness. Be forewarned: Future bolded text with not be so kind. **


	3. Chapter 3

III: _NICO_

Nico was used to dreams. Being a son of Hades, he had the horrible habit of accidentally stumbling into scenes of death and decay. More than once, he'd witnessed a grotesque murder and been silenced by his father before he could tell the proper authorities. And, considering that beyond simply being the child of death he was also a demigod, all things premonition tended to find him in his sleep. It was like nightmares had honing radar for him.

So when he blacked out on The Argo's deck, it wasn't long before he was floating through empty time and space, disembodied. Nico was very aware of the fact that he was hovering over the ground, not that he could actually _see_ his body. For a second, his metaphysical eyes had to adjust. And once they had, he wished he could be blind.

Unfortunately, he recognized his surroundings. And that alone was enough to nearly make him go into cardiac arrest. Crooked stalagmites jutted out from the ground, their overhanging cousins dripping down a clear liquid that sizzled viciously when it hit the dark rock beneath. A hissing river, infested with piranha-like fish deformed by the acidic water, wound between the piles of mineral deposits. Nico stayed very, very still, careful not to move. Where he stood, none of the perils of Tartarus could touch him, because if they hadn't by now, they never would. But if he so much as flinched, it would start a chain reaction that drove him completely insane.

To one of his old friends, Nico would have looked completely different from his usual prideful stride into battle. He shrunk away from the stinging hellfire of Tartarus, curling into a ball and rocking himself back and forth, mumbling incoherent condolences that only he could hear. Focusing on The Argo II, Nico tried to drag his body back up to the surface world. But when that failed, he was overcome with fear. What if this _was_ reality? What if he hallucinated everything from escaping to being re-captured and imprisoned to being freed by Percy and the others? What if he had been in Tartarus all along, being slowly driven mad within the confines of his own mind?

"AH!" Nico looked up and saw two bodies falling down on top of him at Mach speed. His eyes widened and he scampered back just in time to avoid being slammed into. Instead of Nico catching the full force, the boy of the pair did, grunting when the slimmer, shorter girl landed on top of him. Said girl hastily pushed herself off, and in the dim lighting of Tartarus, Nico could clearly see Annabeth blush. Percy moaned and shoved himself upright, looking over at his girlfriend like he couldn't believe his eyes.

Then he kissed her.

Nico whirled around, feeling dirty for trespassing on such a clearly intimate moment. He didn't want to, but something gnawed at him until he turned around. When he did, Annabeth had pulled away from Percy and was cupping his cheek affectionately. "What was that for, Seaweed Brain?"

"Not letting go." Then he stood and hauled Annabeth to her feet. She faltered a little on her broken ankle, but Percy draped her arm over his shoulders and held her up. She winced and muttered a long string of gratitude as they forged on ahead.

Nico hesitated. For a moment, he wanted to turn back and head up to the real world. But at the same time, he'd feel guilty for abandoning his friends. With a heavy heart, he trekked after them.

They traveled in silence for a while, weaving in and out of the dark rocks and carefully avoiding the river of acid. Percy volunteered once to carry Annabeth, but she just smacked him and they went on.

Finally, they stopped. "Do you feel that?" Annabeth asked, looking around. Nico perked up, thinking she might have sensed his presence. His heart gave a treacherous leap at that possibility. He wordlessly told his crush to shut up. He'd developed it when he first met Annabeth in Geryon's ranch and it had somehow survived her loving relationship with Percy. It was actually kind of annoying because he was almost positive Annabeth knew about the childhood fantasy and he did not want to give her any reason to think him jealous. He was happy she was happy, and Percy was like a brother to him. How was he supposed to control the stupid teenage hormones Bianca had warned him about?

"What?" Percy lowered her onto a stalagmite and looked around, hand hovering over his pocket and Riptide. Nico jogged forward, hoping his cousin would see him. No such luck. Percy turned back to Annabeth with a worried frown on his face. "A monster?"

She shook her head and held a single finger to her lips. That's when a low, dark chuckle filled the cavern and sent chills running up Nico's spine. He recognized that voice. It had gladly tormented him when he was down here, and now it was going after his friends. Nico took a step forward, planning to stop the problem before it started, but he was thrown back almost immediately by an invisible force-field.

"Now, now, son of Hades," Coeus chided, arms spread like a welcoming father. Only he was anything but. "I wouldn't try anything as rash as young Jackson here did, throwing himself so readily at my mercy."

Percy and Annabeth faced the Titan in horror, both of them reaching for their weapons. Only Annabeth didn't have her knife for some reason. Or any of the rest of her things. Nico found that slightly odd. He forced himself to his feet and called to Coeus, his voice dripping with venom; "I wasn't being rash. I just planned on killing you before you could hurt my friends."

Coeus grinned. Percy and Annabeth spun around to look at a bitter Nico, shoving himself upright and glowering at the fair-haired immortal. "How valiant. Your cousin must be proud."

Percy gaped at him. "Nico? My gods, how did you get _back_ here? Are the others...?" Nico cut him off.

"Don't worry. They're all fine. I'm fairly sure I'm just sleeping." He turned his attention back to the Titan, who was grinning triumphantly. "I am, right? You would have already chained me up otherwise."

Coeus chuckled. "Sharp young man, aren't you? Only reason I didn't outright kill you, of course. I do so appreciate intelligence, rare as it is nowadays in the upper world." Then he grinned at Annabeth and brushed her cheek. Percy growled. "But you're a daughter of Athena, are you not?" He didn't wait for an answer. "A prized one at that. The epitome of wisdom and ingenuity. Athena's pride and joy. I knew Metis, you know. Technically your grandmother."

Percy scowled. "Athena was born from Zeus' thoughts. Not..."

Nico expected Coeus to set him straight, but Annabeth interrupted him before Percy could make an ever bigger fool of himself. "Metis was Zeus' first wife, Percy. But when he heard a prophecy about her son being stronger than he was, he ate her. But my mother was immortal, so she burst from his skull fully grown in body armor."

Percy did a poor job of masking his nausea. "Um... Well, that's...cool?"

Annabeth shook her head and Coeus reached out to her, tucking a single strand of blonde hair behind her ear. Percy tensed and stepped between them, drawing the still shrunken Riptide from his pocket. With his left hand, he shoved Coeus. Both Nico and Annabeth gasped at his insolence. But Coeus didn't look angry. If anything, a playful glint shined in his dark eyes and he laughed, his hand darting out to grip Percy's shoulder. The son of Poseidon called out in pain when he tightened his hold, and suddenly Coeus' expression changed from amusement to fear. It lasted a little longer than believable as a trick of the light and too little time to actually accuse him of being afraid, but he released Percy in a hurry and let him fall back into Annabeth's outstretched arms.

Nico watched Percy advance a step toward the Titan and started to stop him, but Annabeth beat him to it. She swept her boyfriend behind the stalagmite with a forced confidence and slid off the rock, wincing when her foot hit the ground. But she steeled herself and lifted her chin. "W—what did you see?" she demanded. Percy lunged forward and tried to wrestle her back down, but she resisted.

"Annabeth," he grunted as she lightly pushed against his chest, glowering at Coeus. "Your ankle..."

"Percy, stop it!" she elbowed him in the stomach and he stumbled into a pillar of stone, looking taken aback. For a moment, Annabeth had her back to Coeus, lecturing her boyfriend on his regular stupidity, but while she did so, Coeus was fading into the shadows. "Coeus is the titan of..."

"Hey!" Nico called, running forward and raising his arm in a kind of hailing gesture and trying to make the titan wait. But Coeus was already gone.

Annabeth turned around too late to stop him. For a minute, she just stared at the place where Coeus had stood, looking both incredulous and uncertain. When she glanced over at Nico, a silent understanding passed between them and they walked over to an indignant Percy, who had his arms crossed and was gingerly prodding a burn from acid. "Sorry," Annabeth apologized bashfully, limping over to him and taking his hand in both of her own. "I shouldn't have..."

"It's alright," Percy grumbled, standing up straight. But he didn't look alright. His eyes were overshadowed with a bitterness Nico had never seen in them before. He disengaged Annabeth's left hand from his and swung her arm over his shoulder, letting her jump around a bit before easing into a steady rhythm of walking.

"Wait," Nico raised his hand, and both of them turned to look at him. He swallowed and fought for the words. Despite all of his fantasies about making everything up to his friends and specifically to Percy, he just couldn't put his regret into words. He wanted to tell them how much he respected them and how much he missed them and needed their guidance. He desperately needed to apologize to Percy for lying to him, for tricking him last summer into going to Hades, for being a bratty younger cousin. He wanted to explain everything, warn them about the perils they were facing, tell them what happened with Hazel, and justify the things he'd done. But instead of the waterfall of words pouring from him, it all stuck in his throat like a squeezed hose. And because of it, burning tears built up in the corner of his eyes. The only thing he could think to say was, "Good luck."

Good luck. Not "I'm sorry." Not "I miss you." Not "You're like my older siblings and I love you." Good luck. Nico certainly had a way with words, didn't he?

But Percy didn't seem to care. Annabeth leaned against a low-hanging stalactite and smiled at him while Percy stepped forward with his hand proffered. Nico managed to grim smile as he reached out to shake it, but to his horror, his hand rippled like a mirage at the contact. "You're not really here." Percy breathed, half-awed and half-afraid. For a second, all three of them stared at Nico's undulating hand, and finally Percy smiled and looked up. "Doesn't matter," he chuckled, his easiness obviously false. Pure love shown in his eyes when Percy looked at him, like he knew how Nico felt and the feeling was mutual. Percy's lopsided grin comforted Nico for a second before vanishing and being replaced with the solemnity it had worn when Percy fell into Tartarus. "We're counting on you, Nico. Meet us at the Doors, or..."

He didn't go on. He really didn't need to. Percy turned around and let Annabeth drape her arm over his shoulder before soldiering on into Tartarus, his unspoken promise to make it to the Doors of Death in Tartarus hanging in the air like a half-forgotten memory. Nico watched his friends get farther and farther away, knowing this would be the last time he would see them in a very, very long time.

~1~

The dream shifted suddenly, and before Nico completely knew what was happening, he was standing in a corner on Olympus. He was in the throne with nearly all of the gods - with the exceptions of the vacant Hera, Dionysus, Demeter, Artemis, and Apollo and a surprisingly pensive Ares sitting on his throne - on their feet and yelling at one another. Zeus, true to form, bellowed the loudest, but even his stentorian voice was mostly drowned out by the overall din of deities. It wasn't only the Olympians, either. Several of the minor gods were scattered throughout the escalating screaming match. Hebe was having a particularly heated conversation with Aphrodite, and Hephaestus was standing alongside his wife with a hammer in hand. Nico's father, Hades, was also present and grabbed Zeus' shoulder, forcing him to look at him. Poseidon and Athena stood a little ways separate from the chaos, motionlessly staring each other down. Hermes was trying and failing to quell the fighting, playing mediator only to get pulled into the various arguments.

Nico clapped his hands over his ears and his knees nearly buckled as he staggered forward, his voice rapidly becoming hoarse as he tried to out-shout the Olympians. "_Stop!_" he cried desperately, cowed by the deafening noise. "_Enough! Quiet! What's going on? Shut up!_" But for all his effort, he might as well have been mouthing his pleas. He couldn't hear himself think over the overwhelming roar. What was going on?

Nico crumpled to his knees at Ares' throne. The god of war was idly sharpening his knife, looking overly invested in the task as if deliberately avoiding a fight. Which was completely unlike him. But Nico couldn't waste time wondering why. If this didn't stop soon, he was going to go deaf. "_Lord Ares!_" He screamed, but Ares didn't seem to hear him. He wiped his blade on his pants and held it up to the light, still keeping his eyes locked and evading an argument.

"This is your fault."

The voice cut through the noise like a hot knife through butter. Ares looked up, knife readied at his side, and Nico turned, expecting to see one of the gods accusing him of something. But instead, he saw the entire throne room staring at the space in front of the lead throne as Poseidon and Athena glowered at each other with no lack of contempt. Poseidon was dressed his typical Hawaiian shirt and beach shorts with a rather unthreatening beard growing. But he looked deadly serious, his form starting to glow with the power of his true form. Clasped firmly in his right hand was his trident, the untamable sea itching for his commands. Athena looked no less stern when she leveled her tumultuous grey eyes at Poseidon. Nico instantly saw the family resemblance between her and her imprisoned daughter; those eyes were both incriminating and exonerating. He was surprised that Poseidon wasn't pulling away from her in fear. Athena was, conversely, garbed in shining armor with a spear in hand and her shield, Aegis, on her left arm.

Nico realized the silencing voice had been Athena's. Tension hung over the heads of the onlookers. Ares pushed himself forward, ready to stand, and Nico rose to his feet slowly, walking around the dense crowd to watch the argument from closer up.

The playful glint in Poseidon's eyes was gone. The expression he wore on his face was humorless and forcibly indifferent. His upper lip twitched when he said, "_My_ fault, Athena? Aren't you the one who enlisted your daughter on that suicidal quest for vengeance? Was it not _your_ grudge that sealed her and my son's fate?" Athena didn't answer. "Well, Atherva?" Nico frowned at the mispronunciation of her name, but then Poseidon's form flickered and morphed into a taller, proud warrior in purple robes and wearing a laurel. Neptune looked even angrier than Poseidon had, if possible.

Athena was not far behind. She transformed into a bitter teenage looking woman in traveler's gear. Her spear lost its point and became a walking stick. "Your son is responsible for all of this. The Romans disgraced me, left me a shadow of my former glory, trashed my city, razed my temple, and stole my prized statue. Annabeth was more than capable of restoring me to my old position until that muddle-headed progeny of yours confused her, misguided her. It is because of your unauthorized conquest that they are trapped in Tartarus!" Her form flickered; one second a dignified warrioress, the next a hunched hiker with intense eyes.

Neptune wasn't nearly as unstable. Occasionally, he faltered, but he remained consistently the no-nonsense Roman god of the seas, feared and respected. Stiffly, he reached across and took his trident in either hand, directing the spires at Minerva/Athena. "You dare?" he roared, lunging forward. Nico thought the three-prongs would impale the goddess, but she quickly changed shape back into Athena and batted his attack aside with her spear. She didn't flinch. Neptune stumbled to the side, becoming Poseidon as he caught his balance and whirled around on her. "My son saved Olympus! His sacrifices have ensured your continued survival."

Athena scoffed, for the time being remaining in her warrior form. "Enough lies, Poseidon. Do you expect me to believe you actually _care_ for that bastard more than as your trophy of victory over the presumptuous oath?"

Poseidon's eyes flashed and the earth trembled under his feet. Nico barely caught his balance on Hera's throne, shrinking away and anticipating the rage of the goddess. Then he realized she wasn't there. Nico turned back to the escalating fight and realized if someone didn't intervene soon, Poseidon and Athena would declare war.

Before Poseidon could summon the wave everyone present knew was building, Nico threw himself into the dispute and cried out "Enough!"

But it didn't sound like his voice. It held more authority and control than he knew he had, and Nico severely doubted he could summon that much conviction in this circumstance. Then he heard booted footsteps from behind him and he turned to see Ares in full-on Mars mode—camouflage U.S. Rangers uniform with an assault rifle slung over his back. Mars swept Nico aside like he didn't even see him, a trend that was beginning to annoy Nico. "When the god of war tells you there has been enough fighting, it's time to listen. War is inevitable, but not among ourselves. Continue and the entirety of Western Civilization will pay the price. Your children are fighting Tartarus for your sakes and you can't set aside millennia-old feuds? Lay down your weapons, for the sake of Olympus."

Nico stood there in complete awe. What could possible compel a bloodthirsty god like Mars to call a ceasefire? Was the war with Gaea really that bad for him to believe in letting one battle go unfinished for the sake of another? Nico found himself quaking with fear at the possibilities and explanations flying through his head. He had newfound respect for Mars, seeing him mediating an argument like that, but apparently it wasn't enough.

Athena turned back into Minerva and welded her walking stick like a staff. "It is a rare day indeed when war itself calls for truce," she acknowledged, and Mars sighed in relief. "But there are some insults that will not go unpunished!" She turned to face Poseidon, and a storm started to build around her, like the days preceding an eruption. "The blame for my daughter's demise is yours to bear alone, Neptune! If she is not safe and the Athena Parthenos hailed by the Romans by midnight on Nonae Caprotinae, we shall finally discover the stronger god! I shall bathe Athens in your ichor, Neptune. Mark my words!"

~2~

Nico was yanked from the horrifying scene by an unseen force and deposited in the middle of ruin and decay. Small one-story houses packed tightly together on the street were ablaze, the inhabitants vainly attempting to extinguish the flames. Sirens screeched through the streets, people running around and screaming and wailing. Nico saw one woman run up to a firefighter, motioning frantically at her house and crying, "Βοήθεια! Μωρό μου έχει παγιδευτεί στο εσωτερικό!" The firefighter's eyes widened and he following her, hose already spurting water. But the flames were completely out of control and spreading fast.

Nico dodged tongues of fire as they lashed out toward him, and others did the same. Families ran from their homes, sometimes carrying their children, others screaming at the firefighters in Greek. Nico was beginning to understand bits and pieces of what they were saying. It was Modern Greek, so he couldn't interpret it as well as he would be able to the true dialect of Ancient Greece, but he got by. Most people were calling for family members still trapped inside the burning buildings. The woman he'd heard before had wanted her baby. Unfortunately, the firefighter she'd enlisted to help hadn't saved the infant. He shut off the stream of water and turned apologetic eyes to her, shaking his head. She wailed and fell to her knees.

Desperation and frantic last-minute shots were being taken all around him, people trying and failing to play heroes and get out alive. The city fire was unquenchable, spreading over everything like a plague. Screams of agony echoed through Nico's ears as the death toll rose.

But then, things got worse. An earthquake took him off his feet and Nico crumpled. A firefighter stumbled and was trapped under a falling piece of wood on his way out of a building. The dog he'd been rescuing leapt over the burning block of wood and into a little girl's arms, who promptly cried out in relief. The firefighter's friends tried to save him, but he was gone.

Cracks started appearing in the street. More ambulances screamed up, but their tires were knocked flat by the fissures in the road. The already weakened houses crumbled, trapping people inside not only by fire, but also a cave-in.

Suddenly, a collective screech filled the air. Nico looked up and saw what amounted to enough owls to cover the New York Skyline ten-times over. An onslaught of feathers bore down on him, and Nico tried to run out of the way. When the hooves started thudding up the road, no one was safe. An army of galloping equestrians—not just horses, but zebras, donkeys, and anything else with the slightest relation to the original four-legged steed of Poseidon—surged forward and met the diving flock of owls head-on. Aerially, they were reinforced by Pegasi, who clashed in mid-air with Athena's sacred animal.

Chaos erupted worse than before. People seemed to turn on one another, no longer concerned with saving the individuals on death's door and trying to kill their neighbor. Mingled cries of "Ποσειδῶν" and "Ἀθηνᾶ" were heard from the skirmishing Grecians, and Nico easily translated it; "Poseidon" and "Athena."

It occurred to him all too quickly what was going on. Athena had declared war on Poseidon, and ground-zero was Athens. The capital of modern-day Greece. Their immortal anger was spurring the citizens of the ancient contested city to war. If they kept it up, no one would be left. The unrest on Olympus would give Gaea the perfect opportunity to strike at the heart of Western Civilization and uproot the gods. Their children—the Greeks and Romans—would be too busy fighting amongst themselves to stop her.

The earth shook again, but this time it was more of a ripple. Nico looked down at his feet and saw Gaea's face come into form, her slumbering expression with eyes half-open and flickering into consciousness. _You have seen what is to come. You cannot stop fate. Are you ready to accept defeat?_

Nico caught his balance and shook his head. He didn't even hesitate. For all his doubts and insecurities, he was convicted. He knew what he believed and what the world needed, and Gaea would not shake him. No matter how many earthquakes she caused. "You'll have to kill me."

Gaea cackled shamefully. _That would be a waste. You cannot win this war, Nico di Angelo. You cannot destroy the world._

Darkness started to gather around his vision again, but this time, he let it. He smiled as he gradually woke up and breathed, "Watch us."


	4. Chapter 4

IV: _NICO_

_You cannot destroy the world_.

Nico lay awake in bed. Outside, he could hear the muffled voices of his crewmates—Jason and Frank—arguing in hushed voices. He was careful not to make too much noise as he reached for a glass of water, which had been left on the bedside table for him. At least, he suspected that was the case. Nico tried to interpret what they were saying, but the door did a good job of keeping both unwanted and wanted noise out. The best he could figure out was "...not enough time..."

Nico sighed, all too familiar with the notion of "too little time." Heroes, especially questing heroes stuck with impossible missions like restoring the order of death and defeating Tartarus, were always underappreciated until they weren't. It was a bit a guessing game, really; you have to wait for the time when your godly parent decides you've earned a little sympathy and sends some help your way. It could be in the middle of your first quest or three years after your last. Recognition and prestige was a difficult thing to manage in the demigod world, and it got a little harder every day.

Despite his melancholy musings, Nico straightened and leaned against the headboard, sipping his water gratefully. His dry throat more than welcomed the cool liquid and he gulped down every last drop. When he was done, he felt a million times better. But that fatigue wasn't alleviated from his limbs by much. What he needed was ambrosia.

Just then, Jason kicked open Nico's door and marched in, leaving sparks of electricity in his wake. "You up?" he demanded just as Frank scampered inside. When Hazel's boyfriend saw Nico, he blanched and glanced at Jason, shrugging. Nico ignored him and focused on Jason.

"Yeah," he muttered, setting his cup aside. "What's with you?"

"We've got a problem." he declared ostentatiously, letting his arms drop to his sides and lifting his chin proudly. "There's a meeting in the Mess Hall."

Nico rolled his eyes and threw off his blankets. "I'll be there. Now can you leave? I need to get ready, you know."

Jason scoffed and left, shutting the door abruptly behind him.

"Do you need new clothes?" Nico jumped halfway out of bed and looked over at a huddled Frank, who was leaning against the wall and smiling at him warmly. "I've got a couple spares in my cabin."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, Frank, but I don't think your things would fit me." Frank laughed good-naturedly, and Nico cracked a smile. Making someone even a little happier than he was on a normal basis was—contrary to what his father would have him believe—gratifying. For a few moments, Nico felt like one of the gang, just like the jokester hero Percy or sarcastic Annabeth. Not the ostracized son of an outcast. But a revelation shocked Nico from the task at hand. "Frank, where are my shoes?"

Frank's smile froze and he shrugged. "Either Hazel has them, or she hid them somewhere. She was the one who brought you up here. Took us an hour to get her to come back up."

Nico buried his face in his hands and slipped off the side of the bed onto his knees, groping around underneath the mattress. "I seriously don't get her," he grumbled. "_I'm_ the older one. _I'm_ supposed to protect _her_. But for some reason, she can't seem to stop playing nur... Ah-ha!" Nico held up a pair of slippers triumphantly. Wait a minute—slippers? He glanced up and let out a frustrated scream, tossing the fluffy blue foot-warmers on the bed.

Then Nico faltered. Blue? Fluffy? Definitely didn't sound like his style, or something Hazel would be stupid enough to slip under his bed. Then Nico remembered: There hadn't been a room designed onboard for him. Everything had been made with the Seven in mind. And if everyone was using their rooms, then whose place was he...

Percy.

He was in Percy's room.

Suddenly, he felt vile and disgusting. Nico stood quickly, nausea turning his stomach inside out. He looked around and, for the first time, noticed the mess pervading the entire room. Scattered clothes lay everywhere, unwashed and unfolded. A shield had slid off of the wall and now rested on the ground. It didn't look like it had been used recently. There were two pictures on the nightstand—one of Sally Jackson with her second husband, Paul, and the other with Annabeth and Percy wrestling in the lake—and beside them was a wrinkled letter. When Nico gave it a closer look, he saw that it was a pamphlet describing life at Camp Jupiter. He frowned and picked it up, wondering why Percy had kept it.

He got his answer when he flipped it over.

On the back, in atrocious handwriting with numerous misspellings only a fellow ADHD could have translated, was: _Annabeth. Camp. Blonde. Smart. Buildings. Orange._

Nico sighed and set it back down. It must have been Percy's scratch paper when trying to remember his past. It looked like the only thing he remembered to any detail was Annabeth. Unsurprisingly, stuff about her had been all he wrote down. He doubted Mrs. Jackson would be upset to know her son was legitimately in love with his girlfriend, although being one of the last things he remembered might tick her off slightly. For a moment, Nico wondered if Percy told Annabeth she had been the only thing he remembered when he had amnesia. But he shook his head and scolded himself; that was private to them.

He glanced at the picture of Camp Half-Blood's lake and felt a rush of nostalgia. Despite everything else, it had always been Nico's first and only home. Even with his discovery of Camp Jupiter he was never welcomed in as a camper; just the ambassador of Pluto. He'd be there long enough to handle his father's affairs among the Romans, check on Hazel, and leave. They all counted on that fact, and he knew it. But at Camp, things were a little different. Granted, he was regularly the odd man out—hence his frequent vacations away—but he still had a cabin there. He had a bed and three meals a day with people who cared about him; not because they were family or owed him their second lives, but because he was one of the group. He liked feeling like he was a part of something bigger than just the streets or some humongous prophecy where he didn't even star. Just another half-blood with other half-bloods. Nothing abnormal to see.

A small smile played on the corners of Nico's lips and he brushed against the frame deliberately. Frank missed the pause, probably attributing it to Nico's shock over discovering the cabin's first owner. He took a step toward Nico and placed a hand on his shoulder tentatively. "Percy won't mind when he gets back," he explained. "But Annabeth might not want her things disturbed. So we..."

Nico shrugged him off, resisting the urge to shove him back against the wall. "This is Percy's room. He will sleep here when he gets back. I'm not moving anything until both him and Annabeth are safe." With that, Nico grabbed the slipper and shoved it back under the bed where he'd found it. Frank looked taken-aback as Nico rolled back his shoulders and declared, "I don't need shoes." before marching out of the cabin and trying to shake off the heavy shame left hanging over him for envying Percy his life.

What Nico would give to have a caring family like his.

~1~

When Nico arrived in the Mess Hall, everyone else was already seated and eating somberly. Hazel had two empty seats beside her, which Frank and Nico occupied hastily. Unfortunately, Frank grabbed the one closest to his girlfriend, leaving Nico to sit next to the royal stiff-butt Jason Grace, who was picking at a healthy plate of steak. Across from him was Leo, who sat beside Coach Hedge, and next to him, Piper. Nico only had a moment to wonder why the happy couple was sitting apart at dinner with they typically played footsie under the table (they thought no one saw) before Hedge cleared his throat, "Well, cupcakes, looks like we've got an exciting week ahead. But you got to work on your..."

To everyone's relief, Hazel interrupted him before he could ramble on about what kind of intensive training he would try and fail to put them through. "Coach, I think we should tell Nico what's going on first."

Hedge huffed and crossed his arms. "Nico's smart enough to figure it out on his own. Now then..."

"Coach, it's common courtesy to brief someone completely before discussing a battle strategy." Piper leaned past Leo and looked at the satyr sweetly. Nico thought she was beginning a little overconfident if she thought batting her eyes at the goat would get her anywhere, but Hedge seemed to soften a little bit. "Well, at least I think it is. Right, sir?"

"I...uh, well..." Coach Hedge swallowed and shook his head. "Yeah, right."

Hazel gaped at her for a moment, but Piper was suddenly very interested in her salad. Her face was bright red and she looked ashamed, like she'd done something wrong or immoral. Leo quirked an eyebrow at her, but Piper didn't meet his eyes.

Finally, Jason cut in, shoving a piece of meat in his mouth. "After the gryphons left and you passed out," he began impatiently. There was a collective gasp around the table at his rudeness, but Nico ignored it. It wasn't worth arguing over. "Apollo showed up. Apparently, there's a lot of unrest on Olympus. Worse than when Jupiter's bolt was stolen, whatever he meant by that. But without Hera to patch the differences between gods, everybody turning on everybody else. And the worst ones are—"

"Athena and Poseidon," Nico finished quietly.

The entire table fell silent and stared at him. He could feel Hazel's Carmel eyes probing him for an explanation, but Nico wasn't prepared to give one yet. The blow he took from finding out his little sneak peek was true was enough to leave him completely dumbfounded for several moments. When he recovered, Piper was staring at him warily.

"How did you know that? You were already belowdecks when he told us."

Nico summoned a small amount of water to his cup and sipped it nervously, grateful for the excuse not to speak. "I had a dream." He told them everything he saw on Olympus, but he omitted the part about Percy and Annabeth and burning Athens. He didn't think they needed any more reason to be afraid.

"The Nonae Caprotinae?" Hazel echoed. "I've never heard of it. What is it?"

Nico shrugged. "It's what Athena said." Apparently, that was not the thing to say. Because no sooner did he admit to his ignorance than the table erupted in chatter.

"Well, that's just great. I do my best work completely _blind_!"

"Where's Annabeth when you need her?" (Had that one not been drowned out by the overall din, it might have incurred a long period of silence. As it stood, it simply contributed to the noise level.)

"Let's crush 'em!" (The random, irrelevant comment belonged to none other than Coach Hedge, the remarkable goatly moron.)

"We're doomed."

All exclamations were along the same lines, never any real variations. Exasperation, anger, or despair. Nico started to regret mentioning his unnerving dream, because the only perceptible effect it had on his friends was cause general chaos. It wasn't very long before people were on their feet and screaming at each other. Somehow, Leo had leapt over the table and grabbed Frank by the throat, but the son of Mars was pushing his fingers hard into the other boy's eyes. Hazel was trying to break them up. Piper was failing to stop Coach Hedge from clubbing the cabinet, shattering the glass and splintering the wood. Basically, everyone was going insane, and Nico was the catalyst.

He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Honestly," he muttered to himself. "I am second to the youngest here, and I'm still more mature than you people?" Of course, nobody bothered to answer him. He started banging his head against the table, a migraine developing in his temples.

Nico noticed that Jason wasn't participating in the arguments. He found it odd, considering a few minutes ago he seemed more than happy to start a full-blown fist fight with Nico, but now he looked pensive and calm. Nico couldn't stop himself from probing. "Looks like you and I are the only sane ones left," he said, trying to lighten the mood. Jason looked up at him and, to Nico's disappointment, did not crack a smile. Apparently sons of Hades were doomed to be eternally un-funny.

Jason sighed like he was carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders. For a moment, his face was overshadowed by an emotion Nico didn't recognize. But it faded almost instantly, and Jason looked around the table with incriminating eyes. No one noticed his silent warning. "I know what it is," he began patiently. The shouting persisted. Nico seemed to be the only one who heard him. "I know what it is." Jason spoke a little louder this time, but still in measured tones. Nico felt the hairs on his arms stand on end and knew that Jason crackled with invisible electricity. He remembered the feeling from his few meetings with Thalia and how dangerous she could get when she was angry.

Knowing the others weren't eager to heed Jason's pleas, he got up and backed into the wall, sliding over to the door so he could at least save himself if Jason went supernova. Watching from a safe distance, he eyed the bickering teens warily.

Finally, Jason cracked. He surged to his feet and slammed his cup down again. The resulting bang was enough to cause some questionable noises to come from the wooden table. Jason's eyes were wild and enraged, but at least he hadn't summoned a lightning strike. "I know what the Nonae Caprotinae is."

Everyone gaped at him. Hedge suddenly seemed overly invested in his plate, which no one was stopping him from eating. ("We stocked up," Leo assured them later.) Leo sat immediately, and Piper leaned across the table at her boyfriend, looking concerned. Hazel and Frank stepped back, pale as sheets.

Silence and tension lingered heavily over their heads for several moments before Jason spoke again. "It's a celebration for Juno on July 7th."

For something so huge, it sounded awfully simple. Jason sat back down and drank the remnants of some dark soda without speaking. He focused on his plate.

Finally, Leo laughed. "So we've got five days to get Percy and Annabeth and close the Doors of Death so we don't have a World War III? Piece of cake."

Jason glanced up at him. His expression was suddenly a lot softer, but still stern. Then those electric blue eyes turned to Nico. "Are you sure it's Epirus?"

Nico nodded.

"We can't afford mistakes now. If you are so much as a mile off..."

"I'm positive," Nico affirmed. "It's Epirus. Underground in an abandoned temple. It'll be heavily fortified by Gaea's forces, but we won't have any problem finding it." Despite the conviction maintained in his voice, Nico was scared. Jason was right. If he was off, even by a little bit, everything would fall apart. His friends would die, his home would burn, and Western Civilization would cease to exist. So he hid the shaking of his hands under the table and put on a brave face, convincing everyone that he knew what he was doing.

Jason looked relieved, resting his palms against the table and sighing. "Well, that handles one question." Nico raised an eyebrow at the insinuated _second_ question, but Jason didn't look eager to continue. Likewise, everyone at the table waited for the next discussion, but the son of Jupiter adjusted his chair and stabbed pieces of steak with his fork. He wasn't going to elaborate.

Leaving the rest of the table to speculate.

Leo, for some reason Nico could not understand, took the moment to produce wrinkling old scrolls from his pocket and unroll them over his food dish. He squinted at them and trailed his finger along the parchment as if it was some important thing that told all of his attention. Considering how restless he was usually, it had to be fascinating.

Nico returned to his seat and settled down to eat without interruption. Piper appeared next to him, bending down to confer in hushed tones with Jason. The ex-praetor hardly said a word, nodding or grunting with the occasional monosyllable response. Piper's expression turned more and more concerned until she straightened abruptly and marched back over to her side of the table.

Jason didn't say a word to stop her.

Nico watched a silent exchange between Hazel and Frank with concealed interest. His sister was frantically motioning under the table; face strained and head jerking like she was having a seizure. Frank kept shaking his head at her, absently prodding the last French fry like he was actually eating and not delaying things.

"Well, fine," Piper surveyed the table with obvious difficulty. She completely avoided Nico's eyes as she studied each of them in turn. "If nobody else is going to say it, I will. What about Camp Half-Blood?"

Leo's scroll rolled closed on him when he looked up at her. "What're you talking about, Beauty Queen. We already told them about the Romans. They'll be..."

"Be realistic, Leo," Piper snapped at her friend before addressing everyone else. "Rome conquered Greece once. They can do it again."

"But it's different this time," Leo insisted, half out of his seat.

"How?" Piper demanded after he paused for too long. "Tell me, Leo. How is it any different than before?"

For a second, the son of Hephaestus opened and closed his mouth soundlessly. But he bristled and countered, "They know what's coming now. I mean, we told them they were on the way, and now Jason's giving them all the strategies of the Romans. Right?" The last came out as a breathless plea directed at Jason, who looked up from his meal reluctantly.

"Yeah," he laughed uncertainly. "'Course. I'm already on it."

Nico felt the urge to call him a liar but bit his tongue. It was bad enough Camp had to hear about what happened to Percy and Annabeth (despite Nico's instruction to keep their mouths shut. Not that he could object without drawing attention to the fact he had been eavesdropping.). They didn't have to get a lector on everything plan of attack the Romans had, too. It was understandable why Jason hadn't said anything back in the last Iris Message.

"See?" Leo pointed at Jason as if it somehow backed up his argument. Nico hadn't realized that the newer additions to the Greek camp must have gotten attached as much as him or one of the senior counselors. But apparently, the threat hanging over Nico's only home was as real to them as to anyone else.

Piper didn't look convinced. "You saw that army. What if they draft people from New Rome? They already have two-hundred readied soldiers. If they get anymore..."

"They will," Hazel cut in. "Sorry to interrupt, but they will. Reyna might resist, but Octavian won't let them attack without reinforcements. They'll draft the youngest veterans from New Rome, and probably send out a distress call to legionaries outside of Camp Jupiter. I hate to say it, but your camp is going to be grossly outnumbered."

A vice coiled around Nico's heart and tightened. He'd known the dangers and probabilities about this upcoming battle in the States, but having it laid out for him so clearly by his own Roman sister made the fear that much more real. Camp Half-Blood was doomed. The Romans were an army challenging three-hundred strong with a well-oiled unified force, whereas Camp Half-Blood was built on individual fighters and quests. For surviving monsters alone, the Greeks would win. But faced with those impossible odds...

Nico had watched his sister die. He'd witnessed and felt the deaths of hundreds of demigods during the Titan War. He'd endured Tartarus and seen his best friends inside it. But knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn't have a home to go back to once all of this was said and done was too much to bear.

And apparently, he wasn't the only one. Piper, Leo, Hedge, and even Jason looked silently troubled, their eyes classically fixated on their hands or plates. Hazel and Frank looked sympathetic, and the latter clapped Jason on the back with a half-hearted laugh. "But from what I've seen of you guys, we can't write off Camp Half-Blood just yet. Right?"

Somehow, Frank's encouragement worked. Instantly, the table's spirits rose and Leo declared, "Yeah, people. I can't believe I'm agreeing with Baby-Face over here, but this is _Chiron_ we're talking about. And Clarisse. And that creepy archer dude... What's his name...?"

"Will," Piper supplied with a grudging smile.

Leo snapped his fingers. "Will! I knew that.


	5. Chapter 5

V: _JASON_

Jason didn't know it was possible to hate your life as much as he did right then.

After the pep talk at dinner, everyone scattered to their cabins for sleep or solidary wallowing. Nico, now that he wasn't weak and limping, moved with inhuman speed upper decks for gods knew what. Frank and Hazel hung back to argue quietly. Leo bumped into the wall on his way out because his face was buried in those scrolls of his. Hedge blenched loudly and to the disgust of Piper, who ran off before Jason could catch her. She didn't as much as look at him.

He figured he hadn't helped matters much by refusing to explain, but Nico was sitting right next to him and he could feel those dark eyes boring holes into the side of his head. A son of Hades would know the cause of his distress in a heartbeat, and he didn't feel like bringing in other questions. Hazel had already made it very clear to all of them when they sat down that no one was to mention anything more than the impending war between Athena and Poseidon. The rest of Apollo's ominous warnings could be put to rest, at least until they figured out what city they were looking for.

Everyone besides Frank and Coach Hedge disregarded Jason completely. Even Leo, who was the easiest to forgive people their wrongs, gave his best friend nothing more than a dark look before hurrying off with scrolls in hand. Jason knew he had done something horrible before and he made no effort to mend it, but the dread was still too heavy on his chest.

Percy and Annabeth were fighting monsters in Tartarus for them, and Jason was fighting over which was more important to him. Friendship or family. Friendship or family. The words echoed through his head with the same intense distanced quality they'd held the first time, like his brain was a canyon and Apollo's warning the bomb blast in the middle.

Jason shook his head and ran down the hatch, hiding himself away in his room and burying his head in the pillow. Despite himself, he started recollecting the events above deck and tried to riddle it out.

He didn't do so well.

~1~

Jason slashed the air where the gryphon had hovered just seconds before. It squawked frightfully and buffeted air at him, forcing Jason to bend down closer to the deck for balance. But it retreated with the rest of its brethren, leaving the remaining members of the Seven blissfully bird-less.

He laughed breathlessly, sagging against the railing. Leo's voice boomed over his intercom, saying; "Yeah, baby. _That_ is what we're talking about." Jason chuckled and felt his knees quake treacherously, threatening to undermine his balance. But he held firm, lifting his head and pushing himself off the railing. Piper tackled him, throwing her arms over his neck and kissing him. The intimacy was permeated with relief and love, but also slightly urgent. Jason didn't have any problem with that.

The other couple onboard, Hazel and Frank, embraced each other excitedly. "Frank," Hazel breathed, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. "Thank the gods, I thought you were dead for sure."

Jason couldn't help but smile at their reunion. Unfortunately, it managed to remind him of the reception Annabeth got from Percy. His heart grew heavy with the memory. But he shook it off and pulled back away from Piper to survey the damage.

The sails were a little battered, but the dozen or so minute tears in the canvas weren't major. It was the deck that truly resembled a battleground. Most of the cargo (Granted, it wasn't a lot. Just a few spare weapons Leo had drafted secretly from the armory at Camp.) had been jumbled up or thrown overboard during the lurching of the ship. Jason's stomach felt a little queasy when he remembered the instability of the ground. It had been all he could do just to keep the wind pushing him forward. Once, he considered meeting the gryphons in the sky, but one glance at Frank's trouble and Jason knew it would be his last heroic act. There wasn't much, but droplets of blood were visible or streaked over the deck, making things look worse than they were. A small scratch on Jason's arm, it looked like an inconsequential bruise on Piper's side, maybe a couple other non-lethal injuries that needed bandaged or addressed. Otherwise, everything was great.

Leo emerged from the control room, white as a sheet but beaming like a five-year-old on Christmas morning. When he spotted the group of four celebrators, he hastened to join in, ruffling Frank's hardly existent hair and ducking before the son of Mars could take a proper swing at him. "Man," he smirked, rubbing his hands together. "That was fun."

"Speak for yourself," Piper told him, nearly collapsing against Jason. He turned to her in concern. "I'm just glad it's over."

"Here, here!" Frank shouted, pumping his fist in the air and swooning. Hazel caught him and slapped him lightly to keep him awake.

Jason draped an arm over both Piper and Leo, walking with them over to the young sweethearts. "Nice shooting out there, Zhang," he complimented, giving him a proud thumbs up from Leo's shoulder. "I'm fairly sure you saved us."

Frank scowled. "Shooting? What are you talking about? My bow's still down below in my cabin."

Instantly, silence descended over them. Jason released his friends and glanced around, hand on his recently sheathed _gladius_. "If that wasn't you, then who...?"

Laughter rolled over the Argo II. A very familiar, lighthearted chuckle that tensed Jason's muscles and urged him to draw his sword. He whirled around, ready to fight, and came face-to-face with Apollo, god of the sun.

As usual, Helios' replacement was wearing up-to-date sleek clothes. A white shirt with gold buttons, slacks, and white loafers. His pearly white smile was slightly blinding at first, but past that he looked like a regular teenage guy. Aside from the golden bow clutched firmly in his hand and quiver slung over his back.

"Heroes," he boomed, sweeping forward and spreading his arms. "I think some thanks are in order. I mean, shooting my old chariot drivers? Not my idea of a great weekend."

Jason frowned and fell to one knee. The others followed suit. "My Lord Apollo," he began formally. "We thank you for vanquishing the gryphons and ask why you're here?" The last came out with an octave or two higher from his commanding tone and uncertain.

The sun god snapped his fingers and his bow disappeared in a burst of light along with his quiver of arrows. "There, that's better. Less business-like," The sky rumbled and he glanced up nervously. "Oh, right. This is business. Great," He turned back to the silent demigods in front of him, but then his eyes darted over to the hatch. "You might want to handle him." He jerked his thumb toward an unconscious Nico, arm outstretched toward the hatch.

Jason felt a surge of anger at the sight. He must have been knocked out while trying to flee the fight, judging from his limp grasp on the rope to pull the hatch up. His eyes adopted a fiery aspect as he marched over to him and placed a testing hand over his heart. Sure enough, steady beating thrummed beneath his palm. A second later, Hazel was there, dragging her brother onto her lap and muttering to him under her breath.

His face was clammy and coated with sweat. His shirt was even darker from perspiration than the regular black. His hair stuck over his eyes, and his mouth gaped open unattractively. Nico's eyelids fluttered periodically like he was about to wake up, but he never did.

Jason looked up to see Hazel's desperate eyes boring into his. He tried to argue, but the desperate look on her face broke him and he relented, wrapping his arms underneath Nico's armpits and nodding that Hazel grab his feet. She scrambled to assist him. "We'll be back in a few. In the meantime..." He looked at Piper shortly, and she nodded.

Jason kicked open the hatch and they hassled over Nico's unconscious form for a few minutes, but finally managed to haul him over to the first unoccupied room there was. With his back turned to it, Jason kicked it open and shuffled over to the blue bed, dumping him over on his face. Hazel was panting when she adjusted Nico's position so he lay on his back and not his front.

She untied his shoes and tucked them inside a closest, shutting the doors. Then she walked over and pulled his leather jacket off, hanging it off a chair. She left his socks and looked around. "Where's his sword?"

Jason shrugged. "Probably back up on the deck. We can get it later." He started toward the door; crossing the threshold and leaving it open for Hazel. She pecked Nico lightly on the forehead and jogged toward him, shutting the door.

Jason studied her carefully for a moment. "What?" she demanded, irritation hardly detectable in her voice.

"You really love him, don't you?"

"Nico?" she clarified. He nodded. "Of course I do. He's all I have left."

Jason grabbed her shoulder and squeezed. "Camp Jupiter's your family, too, Hazel. So's everyone on this ship. And Frank is crazy about you."

Hazel chuckled. "You know, you kind of sounded like Percy..." she trailed off, her face darkening. Jason released her shoulder and leaned against the wall, sighing hopelessly. "They're fine, Jason."

"For now," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "What about in a couple days? Will they even be sane enough to remember we need them? What if they forget about us and...?"

Hazel cut him off. "They won't. You only knew Percy for a couple days, Jason, but I've known him a little longer. And Nico knows him even more than that. He doesn't forget the people he cares about. Even when he had amnesia, he remembered Annabeth, and it wasn't long before he remembered everyone else too. He's a good hero. A good person. And Annabeth's smart. They'll be fine."

Jason couldn't help but feel like Hazel was encouraging herself as much as she was him. But he appreciated it anyway. "Thanks," He punched her arm lightly and she grinned. "Let's get back to the others."

When they emerged, everyone was armed. Frank was holding a fallen Greek-style sword—leaf-shaped blade glowing a bronze-tinted gold—and Leo had his hammer, Piper Katoptris. Without wasting a second thinking, Jason drew his gladius and Hazel unsheathed her significantly longer _spatha_. It wasn't until he inched toward the others that he saw the problem.

Apollo was glowing. Not supernova-god glow, but still more than usual and kind of dangerous. Jason shielded his eyes and turned Hazel away from the scintillation before she could die like he had (It was an accident. He was confused; Hera didn't give enough warning, and then _Bam!_). "Lord Apollo!" Piper pled desperately, but Jason didn't dare look over at her. With Apollo emulating his favorite ball of gas, he wouldn't survive.

Suddenly, a deep, rumbling voice carried over the ship. It was ancient—if not as old as Gaea, than far older then Kronos—and chilled the blood in Jason's veins. "Go to my sacred city, demigods," he commanded. "Sail for the center of the world and speak with he who foretold his own demise."

Apollo fell silent. Jason looked back hesitantly; ready to look away at a moment's notice. Hand hovering over his eyes, he peaked at the dimming god and sighed in relief. "All clear," he told the others.

Leo backed away from Apollo, eyeing him skeptically. "Yikes, man. What was that about?" Jason elbowed him in the side. Leo startled and hissed, "_What?_"

"Do not call gods 'man,' Valdez." Leo threw up his hands and muttered insincere apologies.

Apollo, however, didn't seem concerned with his informal address-ment. "That, my dear mechanic, was a prophecy."

Leo frowned. "But I thought those rhymed and stuff."

Apollo waved him off and sighed angrily. "That's what everyone thinks now, isn't it? 'But poems rhyme.' 'But prophecies rhyme.' Sheesh, you'd think everyone would be talking like Shakespeare by now." He crossed his arms and pouted, then startled when he noticed the expectant demigods. "Right. Yeah, not everything rhymes. That was just this little improvement I made to my Oracles so people actually _remembered_ the prophecies. It's ridiculous how forgetful your kind can..."

"Lord Apollo," Piper interrupted, taking a hesitant step forward. "What my friend meant to say was _what did it mean?_"

"What did what mean?" Apollo jumped and stared at her, eyebrow quirked.

"Your prophecy. The non-rhyming one."

Apollo scowled. "My dear, you must be confused. Gods don't deliver prophecies." He played with her braid and winked at her flirtatiously. Piper recoiled uneasily, and Jason stepped forward to intervene.

"Lord Apollo, a minute ago you...well, you uh..."

"Glowed and talked about some sacred city place." Frank supplied helpfully, cutting in the middle of the conversation unexpectedly and standing between Jason and the visiting god. Jason resisted the urge to growl at him and contented himself with shoving Frank behind him and shooting him a warning glare. The son of Mars mouthed an apology.

"Yeah," Jason confirmed. "Something about your sacred city." He thought hard for a second, struggling to remember his exact words. "The center of the world. Something about talking to someone who..." Jason snapped his fingers and chewed his lower lip. The entire thing happened so quickly, he was more or less preoccupied with waiting out the storm rather than playing close attention to what he was saying.

Thankfully, Piper saved him, stepping in line beside him and knitted her fingers through his. "'Sail for the center of the world and speak with he who foretold his own demise.' Those were your exact words. But, Lord Apollo, I'm not sure I understand. What center of the world? And who predicted his own death?"

Apollo narrowed his eyes. "I said that? Those exact words? Are you sure?"

Jason was surprised to note urgency to his voice, almost as if something was going on that even the god couldn't quite comprehend enough of to understand but knew enough to be scared. It was unnerving. Jason felt his fingers press together in a painful squeeze, but he swallowed his discomfort and returned it to Piper. A flicker of a smile played across her face and she released his hand, nodding.

Something flashed across the teenage deity's face. It was difficult to identify; it could have been fear, worry, understanding, terror, any number of things. But it eclipsed his face for less than a second, and then his winning smile was back and he beamed. "Well, I guess I'll just have to leave that little riddle to you to solve."

Panic swelled in Jason's chest. Center of the world? Sacred city? Something tickled his memory, a brief mention at Camp Jupiter of some Greek myth to do with his father. But he couldn't bring the myth actively to mind and he wasn't even sure if he'd really heard it. He knew it was a Greek myth, made for Greek ears. The likelihood of Jason actually knowing it was nil to nothing.

"Wait," Jason held up his hand before Apollo could disappear. "Can't you tell us anything else? Maybe a hint or something?"

Apollo stopped in mid-flourish and faltered, arms falling at his sides. He stared at Jason, and as he did so, his eye color began to change, turning the pupil and iris bronze-gold. The change reminded Jason suddenly of another person with similar looks and an almost identical head of blond hair, only his eyes had been completely gold and his voice was gravelly and ancient. More so than Apollo's was normally, but younger than the deep tenor from before.

The sun god lashed out, and Jason moved to duck a swing, but Apollo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him in. He tried not to meet those glowing eyes, but Apollo jerked his chin up and forced him to. In a low whisper of the same voice he'd spoken with when he declared the quest, he said, "One of your friends will face Death, and you will be left to decide who you value more. Family or friendship." Apollo gripped his shoulder tighter and Jason cried out, knees buckling. "Do not let pettiness cloud your judgment, Grace. Wrong decisions will cost the world."

Apollo tossed him onto the deck and burst into a cloud of ethereal light. Jason rolled over on his back to avoid the glare, coughing as though he had been strangled. Long after the god was gone, he still lay on the deck, wheezing desperately. Fear clawed at his stomach and he fought to keep it off his face. One of his friends was going to die unless he chose them over...family? Did that mean Thalia was in danger? Or someone else?

After what seemed an eternity, Piper fell to her knees beside him. "Jason," she called, her musical voice yanking him from his terror. He sputtered, but then something burned its way up his throat. Without waiting a second to further comprehend it, he let his body take over and sprinted for the side, heaving up what little lunch he'd had. Running footsteps fell in behind him from several feet, but Jason ignored them, waiting for the vomiting to pass.

He shook his head and took a napkin offered to him by Hazel. He thanked her and wiped his mouth with it, not caring enough to do anything more than throw it over the side. The small, reassuring squeeze of Piper's hand drew his attention and he turned to his friends, managing a bitter smile. "Sorry, just... After-battle jitters." He winced, hating how out-of-control and fearful that sounded. He was supposed to be the cool, collected leader, not some whelp who threw up every time there was a little blood. But it was better than telling them one of them was going to die and he was probably going to cause it because he couldn't make up his mind.

Unfortunately, though, they looked unconvinced. "Jason, what did Apollo tell you?" Piper's question hit him like daggers through the eyes. He looked away from her and deliberately looked at Leo, but something gnawed at him when he saw the Latino's worried expression. What if Leo was his damned friend? He looked away from him quickly too, turning instead to Frank, but then the image of his blood-streaked face filled Jason's metaphysical eyes and he turned his back to them all, struggling to control his breathing.

Piper jerked him back to face her, but Jason pulled away. He wasn't ready to talk. "Jason!"

"Leave me alone!" he shouted, shoving her away from him. No sooner had she stumbled back than guilt swallowed him, but the damage was done. Piper's incredulous eyes turned to shocked pain, and he clearly saw her eyes water.

"Fine," she told him levelly. "Don't talk to your girlfriend. You know, the one who stuck by you no matter what hellfire you were facing or monster you were trying to kill? The one who fought giants with you and crazy Maenads and rode on a faulty automaton into another country for you and your stupid champion quest. The one who loves you. She doesn't care." Jason opened his mouth to apologize and beg her forgiveness, but Piper wasn't hearing it.

Turning away just as Jason caught sight of a lone tear sliding down her cheek, Piper ran. She didn't seem to be heading anywhere in particular, just away from him. "Piper!" he called. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean..."

He sagged against the rail and looked back at the others. Hazel scoffed and shook her head. "We're not telling Nico about this until he's better," she proclaimed definitively before jogging after Piper. Jason closed his eyes, understanding the notion of "girls stick together." He turned to the remaining guys. Frank gaped at him and looked between the indignant girls and the guilty Jason. Leo, however, just looked disgusted.

"I'm going to work on the engine," he told him gruffly. He shouldered past Frank and down to the engine room, producing a pair of keys from his pocket that only he possessed. He didn't trust any of the rest of the crew with the finer machinery aboard.

Jason half-expected Frank to leave too, but the son of Mars wasn't going anywhere. He still looked shocked, but not overly appalled or disdainful. "I get what it's like to have dangerous secrets that put other people in danger," he explained. "We still need to know, but I figure a couple hours to collect yourself is more than fine." He held out his hand, and Jason shook it with a sigh.

"Thanks for getting it."

Frank smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. "We should probably go get Nico. Oh!" Frank pointed at Jason meaningfully, but it wasn't accusatory. "Before you and Hazel came back up, Apollo said something about Athena and Poseidon about to go to war. He didn't say why, just that we need to close the Doors before they do."

Jason blinked, dumbfounded. He could tell Frank wasn't as easy-going about it as he let on—he'd just had a couple minutes to process it—but it didn't make the blow any less jarring. Athena and Poseidon at war? He shuddered. That was not a battle he wanted to see.

Beside Frank, he walked belowdecks.

**Sorry it so long to write this chapter. Although my opinion of him has been changed, I still find it difficult to get a lock on Jason. More than likely, Nico will be my easiest character because we've known him the longest. Hazel and Frank might or might not come easier than Jason does, but first I have to get through the next three chapters. They will all be slow incoming, and likely everything from here on out will. I'm trying to cement my plot before I actually get there instead of adlibbing it like I did with my Mark of Athena. So far, I have a purpose and whatnot planned out pretty thoroughly. **

**I realize I was probably painfully out of character in this chapter and would appreciate if any of you had tips to zero in on the spirits of these guys. I _know_ Piper talking about herself in third person was weird, but it was the best way I could capture how hurt she felt. It sucked. But believe me, the first few drafts were worse. This is as good as this chapter is ever going to get, I swear.**

**Be afraid, be very afraid. Jason has to choose between two people he cares about. It isn't gonna be pretty. And the oath to keep with a final breath? My theory on who it's going to be will be introduced in the final, like, three chapters. **

**Anyone want to take a wild guess at who the seer is they mentioned? Or the city? If you can guess it before Chapter Seven I'll give you spoilers for any of my series you're reading. As many as you like. Or just sneak peaks. Depends on how I feel. But you will get spoiled. **


	6. Chapter 6

VI: _JASON_

Jason stared at his ceiling with the lights turned off for a good two hours. His cabin connected directly to the deck, and Leo made it sort of like one of those mirrors in interrogation rooms; the people on the outside can see in, but the guy inside can't see anything but his reflection. It was slightly different so that it was sturdier and blended in with the rest of the deck, but the concept was the same. At night, when Jason felt restless, it was the best idea Leo had ever had.

This was one such night. The events of that past week tormented him. Everything bad that happened - from the disaster at New Rome to the tragic fall into Tartarus - Jason tried to rationalize or justify. He wanted to make it make sense. Why did Leo have to open fire on Camp Jupiter _besides_ Gaea meddling? Why did Percy and Annabeth have to go? The Fates had to be involved. It was destiny, after all. There was nothing done that did not have a purpose. The problem was, Jason was deliberately and consciously ignoring the number one rule of Fate: Everything might happen for a reason, but it isn't necessarily a good reason. The Fates served balance and balance alone. Jason knew that, he just didn't want to admit it.

The ship sailed on the wind currents smoothly. Apparently, the engine was doing even better after Leo's checkup, because now there wasn't even a jostle. Jason wasn't complaining, of course. It was nice not to get thrown out of bed because The Argo II hit turbulence.

The uneventfulness should have bored him to sleep, but Jason remained alert and paranoid. Every noise from outside startled him. He rose out of bed more times than he could count with his _gladius_ drawn and legs muscles bunched. The gryphon attack and Apollo's unwelcome visit had frayed his nerves, and the result was an uncertain wreck of a man.

Time dragged on slowly. Eventually, Jason set about occupying himself with silly things like pacing or remembering song lyrics. He muttered "Eye of the Tiger" and "Holding out for a Hero" under his breath so much there was no way he was ever forgetting them again (Piper's brother, Stephen, was a fan of eighties music, so Jason heard it a lot when he was hanging out with his girlfriend). He produced a small dagger from his drawer and practiced his form with it. By the end, he was still unentertained and confident that he would never be satisfactorally profficient in the knife.

He glanced at his alarm clock at what felt like ten hours. It had only been five. He growled and flopped back down onto his bed and shut his eyes tightly, determined to sleep. The only other option left to him was to wallow in his own self-pity and contemplate the hopelessness of life. Needless to say, he was anxious to sleep. But, unfortunately, that only contributed to his insomnia and he remained wide awake for another hour. To keep himself preoccupied, he recited each of the five rules of praetorship under his breath in Latin:

_"Vos es responsible pro totus. Vestri sententia es promptus quod sanus." _("You are responsible for all. Your decisions are prompt and sound.")

_"Vos mos se gero vestri in a professio res. Romanorum entanglements es peius - monitus." _("You will conduct yourself in a professional matter. Romantic entanglements are ill-advised." That one was almost never abided by and scarcely enforced. Often times, praetors began committed relationships simply as an emotional outlet for the stress of the job.)

_"Vos es a proeliator. Proditor ero fungor , quod haud vicus may exsisto donatus ut graecus." _("You are a warrior. Traitors will be executed, and no quarter may be given to outsiders." Although the rule might also apply to Greeks, in which case the law was broken utterly and completely when Reyna permitted Percy into the rank of praetor.)

_"Mediocris tentatio ero donatus ut totus quisnam es suspectus of proditio. Tamen eventus est volatilis quod stabilis ex vestri labiae ut sentence est donatus." _("Fair trial will be given to all who are suspected of treason. But the consequence is swift and firm from your lips when the sentence is given.")

_"Vos es morale. Si vos narro of despero , totus mos despero." _("You are the morale. If you speak of despair, all will despair.")

That last gave him a start. It was a lesson he had learned before being elected, but at the same time, he struggled with it every day of his life. For his entire youth, he questioned his family. Pieces of his infantile stages clung to his memories - he could still recall Thalia's younger face, worn with worry but glowing whenever she looked at him. Barely, he could picture his mother's creamy skin and pale white hair. The customary wine glass was always in her hand, just as Thalia told him. He remembered he had never particularly liked his mother; she smelled bad and talked funny. Nothing like Thalia, who was easy to understand and never condescended him. He knew he loved his sister, even after years of separation, which was probably why Juno had allowed him to keep that tiny, inconsequential piece of his memory while everything else was wiped clean. She wanted to give him that shining hope of family.

Covering up his insecurities had always been Jason's biggest task. As the son of Jupiter, he couldn't show fear or indecisiveness. Jason Grace was required to exude confidence from every pore of his being and act in control even as chaos erupted around him. There was no time for tears or heart-to-hearts. He was the leader, and leaders don't cry.

Now, it was even worse. Percy and Annabeth were gone. The only true guide on board fluctuated between cripple and unconscious. Apollo told them to go to a city they didn't know to speak with a seer none of them knew. Rome was marching on Camp Half-Blood with the intention of genocide. The Doors of Death were the only thing standing in between them and Mount Olympus, but they had no idea how to close them. Athena and Poseidon were macho-posturing and getting ready to go to war. Gaea was getting stronger by the day. They were alone in a place where neither camp was stupid enough to send troops and if patterns were anything to go by, they'd have at least one giant to contend with very, very shortly. Everyone else seemed to have their own personal dilemmas, and they were all counting on Jason to fix it. Because he was the leader. He was the guy who stood on the mast and gave an encouraging pep talk just before they marched into battle.

And he couldn't do it.

He had to choose between two people he loved dearly. Either a member of his family died, or a close friend. And personal grudge was going to be a factor. What he couldn't tell was whether or not that meant he was bitter about his relative or his friend. He supposed he wouldn't know until he was faced with the decision itself, and at that point he wasn't confident he'd know how to handle it. As a matter of fact, he was rather unconfident.

How was he supposed to be a great leader if he didn't know if he was a good person? He couldn't make unbiased decisions for the greater good. He couldn't face down an army and flare his nostrils before laughing and massacring them. He was allegedly a one-man army and he had no idea how to fight in any other than with a large group, as Camp Jupiter had instructed. Jason was lost and scared, but he couldn't show it.

He hated his life.

He drifted off to sleep sometime during his musings, and the entire night he was plagued by nightmares. Nothing real or even concrete. Just disembodied people chanting "Friendship or family" at him while two black silhouettes were escorted down an aisle of people, all waving their fists and droning on and on. Jason knew he couldn't let them die. He charged forward, but a line of skeletons barricaded his path, as unmoving as pillars of stone. They did not attack him, but rather turned cold, glowing red eyes to him and joined their gravelly voices to the chant. "Friendship or family. Friendship or family. Friendship or family. Frien..."

A rush of heat hit Jason's face just as the sound of ripping paper filled his ears. A pyre flared to life, and both faceless people stood at the bottom of it, hands bound behind them. Their forms came into view then. Both of them had bags over their faces, so Jason didn't know which one was who. He screamed, trying to break through the wall of the dead. It wouldn't give.

Suddenly, the dead shuffled to either side. And appearing behind them was Apollo, dressed in gold robes like a monk. His hood was down. "Jason Grace, this is your decision. One will live, the other will die. Choose,"

Jason opened his mouth to plead with Apollo, but the words stuck in his throat. "I can't!"

The god of the sun showed no mercy nor sympathy to his case. Jason drew his sword in a last ditch effort and charged Apollo, determined to run him through and end it. But then the god vanished in a puff of smoke and momentum carried him forward, straight into the prisoner on the left. His _gladius_ plunged into their chest like it was butter, and he heard a masculine grunt. They crumpled and the bag fell off their head. It was Leo.

No, wait. It was Frank. No, Percy. Annabeth. Hazel. Piper. Chiron. Reyna. Dakota. Bobby. Gwen. Then it was Thalia. His mother. People he didn't know but could have been his brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents. A myriad of faces filled his vision until they were floating, disembodied, around him. "You killed me, Jason," they said as one. "You should have chosen. Then only one would have died."

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, turning away and running. But he couldn't go anywhere. They surrounded him, getting closer and closer and closer...

"You didn't decide. So now, you must pay the bloodprice." They all congregated around him, and then they lunged.

~1~

Jason awoke to five consecutive raps on his door.

"Jason?" It was Leo. "Hey, man, you up?" Jason considered his options. Part of him wanted to stay silent and feign sleep. But he knew there were things to be done, and he'd already messed things up with Piper. Maybe a new day would make her more amiable to his apologies.

He kicked off his covers and called, "Yeah. Coming," The doorknob twisted and Leo stepped inside. Jason frowned, almost certain he'd locked the door. Then he caught a glimpse a shiny object in Leo's hand before he tucked it in his toolbelt and knew the Admiral had forged a Master Key.

Leo latched the door behind him and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. "I need to talk to you." Jason looked up from tying his shoes. There was an uncharacteristic amount of sobriety in Leo's tone, almost as if he wasn't joking around. Which was ridiculous. Jason could count the number of times Leo had been serious one hand. Leo Valdez was not one for formalities or professionalism; he'd rather play practical jokes and sing cheesy songs around the deck or make up inappropriate jokes at all the wrong times. The only things Leo was staid about were The Argo II and his mother - and even then, he somehow always managed to distract the conversation by jesting.

Jason tied off the bow on his tenis shoe and picked up the left one, looking Leo square in the eye. "What's up?"

Leo took a deep, shaky breath. "You're being a dickhead."

Jason dropped the shoe. "What did you just call me?" Had Leo had an ounce of common sense, he would have stopped then, noticing the dangerous edge to Jason's voice. But Leo was a concerned, albeit tactless friend, and Jason noted with a tiny piece of rational brain power that he should have been grateful for the honest assessment of his behavior. As it stood, however, he was sleep-deprived, scared out of his mind, and distraught with worry. Reason had no part of his mind.

"Dickhead," Leo repeated emotionlessly. "You've been acting like a complete jerk, and now Piper's in tears. Won't let any of the rest of us see, but when I checked on her last night, I heard her." Guilt washed over Jason again and he looked away from Leo's eyes. "I'm not gonna lie to you, man. You're starting to worry me, and I don't know what Apollo told you, and really it's none of my business, but - "

"You're right," Jason interrupted quickly. He turned back to Leo sharply, and his friend recoiled fearfully at the look in his eyes. "It is none of your business. And as the guy who pulls rank on this ship, I should remind you that mouthing off to your superior is severely punished in just about every society I know of. So if you want my advice, Leo, I'd say you need to learn your place."

Alarm and pain danced in Leo's eyes for a few moments before his dark irises hardened and he straightened. There was no amusement in his voice at all anymore. When he spoke, he spoke with venom. "I should remind you, _Grace_, that I'm the Admiral on this thing. Which means I pull rank over _you_. So maybe you're the one who needs to learn his place." Leo whipped around and stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "I came here to help you out, Jason. Not to get screamed at. You keep this up, and nobody's gonna want to talk to you." He opened the door and left it ajar as he marched down the hall, shouting behind him, "Don't hurry to breakfast!"

~2~

After Leo's tirade, Jason dressed and headed down to breakfast.

He paused at the door and fought to collect himself. Matters had gotten out of hand, and the faster he could resume his normal behavior, the better it would be for everyone. There wasn't time for drama aboard the Argo, and Jason had no intention of supplying it.

He turned the knob and took a single step through the threshold. Then he was knocked back by a solid hook to the jaw.

"Son of a hy - " Jason swore, cupping his cheek. But whoever had attacked him wasn't letting up, because another punch connected under his chin and Jason stumbled into the wall, dazed. Blinking, he tried to make out his assailant, but his vision blurred and then they grabbed him by the ears and slammed his face into their knee.

He half-expected the beatings to continue, but then he heard strangled coughing. A crash of silverware punctuated his attacker's fall. Through blurry eyes, Jason looked up to see a winded Nico di Angelo trying and failing to charge him again. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Nico, what is wrong with you?"

The son of Hades spat at him. "What's wrong with me? You're the one who decided keeping me out of the loop was a good idea." Nico strained against the avalanche of dishware to stand, assisted by a fretting Hazel. She let him lean against her as she quietly chided him, but Nico held up his hand. "I want you to tell me everything Apollo told you. Including whatever you've ommitted from these guys." He jerked his thumb at the others.

Jason looked around the room, hoping one of them would come to his aid. But even Frank looked intrigued, and he had been on his side to start with. Of course, when Jason had snapped that he'd better hope he wasn't his friend and they started their argument...

"I can't tell you that," Jason decided quickly, seeing his way out and seizing it. "But I can tell you everything else. And Hazel asked us not to tell you everything. She didn't think you were up to it."

Nico turned a cold glare on his sister. "We'll talk about this later." For a second, he actually sounded like a stern father. Then he got that tired expression again and collapsed onto a chair. Panting, he stared pointedly at Jason. "Well, whenever you're ready." The look in his eyes clearly stated the contrary.

So Jason launched into the explanation over what happened with Apollo. Nico listened intently, frowning at the prophecy. "That wasn't a prophecy," he murmured. "Not quite. Those actually predict what's going to happen, not tell you where to go. Whatever that was, someone outside of Apollo was telling you it. And whoever can use a god as a conduit is a powerful ally. Or enemy," He rested his elbows on his knees.

Leo shook his head. "But he acted like he'd been the one to say it. And then he denied the whole thing." Jason shot Leo an apologetic look, but his friend avoided his eyes. Damn.

Nico shrugged. "Then one of the gods warned him. Probably Zeus." Nico buried his face in his hands. "So we've got the Nonae Caprotina in five days, an ancient city whose name none of us knows, and a dusty seer who predicted his own death."

Jason bit his lower lip. "So you don't have any ideas?"

Nico peaked out between his fingers. "There are a couple possibilites. Cassandra spurred Apollo and he cursed her prophecies to never be believed. She died after being taken in as a mistress by an invading Greek. I can't remember any other names right now, but I know there was an Argonaut."

Jason shook his head. "It isn't Cassandra of Troy." he stated firmly. "Apollo said 'he.' If you can remember anything about the Argonaut, get back to me." And then, feeling like a risktaker, Jason clapped Nico on the shoulder. He had his hand swatted aside. "Are you sure you don't know about the city?"

He shook his head.

"Damn," he sighed. "Alright, I'll going abovedecks. Anyone needs me, I'll be scouting for threats."

Jason could have sworn he saw Leo give him the middle finger as he left the room.

**There's a little of a tip as to the seer in this chapter. If you do the research, you'll figure it out. But you still have to guess the city too.**


	7. Chapter 7

**It was brought to my attention that this fic is turning rather chilly and somber. I would like it to be noted that there is likely to be a darker undertone to HoH because of the concluding events in MoA, but Riordan's writing is not classically depressing. Thus, I will attempt to emulate him once more. This chapter is (I hope) going to be a little more amusing. But don't count on my winning humor.**

**I don't have any.**

VII: _JASON_

EAGLES CAWED in the distance. Well, Jason assumed they were eagles as he wasn't sure what birds were native to the area and they surrounded like eagles.

The last sliver of Italy faded into the distance as the Argo II whizzed off toward Greece. The isles weren't yet visible on the horizon, but at the rate they traveled, it wouldn't be long before Coach Hedge declared a very bad "Land ahoy!" and Leo criticized his ship speak. Jason leaned over the side to appreciate the view, watching the sunrise in the east fade out as it approached its usual perch in the sky. When he was bored with sightseeing, he drew his _gladius_ and practiced his swordsmanship.

Although he hadn't had control over his actions when the eidolon took over his body, he had known how horribly Percy outmatched him on the blade. Jason knew why and usually wouldn't be bothered by it, but with Percy gone, the question gnawed deep in his stomach: Who was the better leader?

With Percy onboard, it was obvious who everyone looked up to. Jason wasn't sure exactly what made the son of Poseidon so much more charismatic than him, but the crew seemed relaxed and obedient when he gave orders. Which shocked him, because Percy never seemed thrilled about taking charge. But without him, the scales tilted in Jason's favor. He should've been relieved and grateful that he got his chance to prove his capabilities, but all he felt was guilt. Percy and Annabeth shouldn't even _be_ in Tartarus. He could've pulled them out of that pit, but he was too slow. Percy should still be in charge, sharing the responsibility.

At the same time, though, Jason was relieved. Having Percy or Annabeth hovering over the precipice when he had to make his choice would be too difficult. It was bad enough Piper and Leo were possibilities and Thalia was MIA; dealing with the two people that wanted to be together enough that they'd fall into the Greek Hell together would rip his heart from his chest.

Jason tried to emulate Percy's fighting style, but it was too radical for him. His technique was stiff and designed to navigate around a large shield. It just didn't work. He cursed and sheathed the blade, deciding altering his technique so late in the game was suicide.

"Good morning," someone greeted from behind him. Piper's musical voice washed over him and Jason suppressed a smile. He leaned back against the rail as the ship bobbed ever so slightly to the side. Piper stood beside him, resting her back on the gilded railing and smirking at him. It didn't look forced or bitter. "I've decided to forgive you. Having the god of prophecy hand you one and forbidding you from telling anyone has to be difficult."

Jason glanced timidly over at her. "I'm sorry. I overreacted, and then I didn't apologize, and..." Piper silenced him with a light peck to the lips. It was over and done in less than a second, but the contact sent shivers up Jason's spine all the same. He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, working his jaw up and down dazedly. "What did I do to deserve you, again?"

Piper coiled her arms around his stomach, sidling up against Jason's suddenly flush chest. His breath skipped when she teased his lips with hers. "Did I ever tell you how I took control of Cabin Ten?"

Jason frowned, brain befuddled by the nearness with his girlfriend. "Uh... I'm not sure."

Piper chuckled. "I had to hold Katoptris to Drew's throat and threaten to duel her publicly." Jason gaped at her. A distant part of his brain thought "Of course she would. She's Piper." The rest of him couldn't believe his ears. Piper, despite the fire that occasionally burned red-hot in her eyes, was notoriously reluctant to engage in fighting of any kind. It was an endearing quality of hers and balanced him out. But at the same time, knowing his girlfriend was more than capable of putting her foot down on someone's throat was a strange turn-on. "I always told her you were mine."

Jason gulped. "You what? But we weren't dating at that point. Were we?"

Piper kissed him again, and his thoughts turned to Jell-O. "Not that you knew, anyway."

"Oh gods," a third voice called from belowdecks. Jason detached Piper from his waist and turned to see Leo emerging from the hatch, hand clamped over his eyes. "Why do I always walk in at awkward moments?"

"Because you're the Repair Boy. Good timing is not one of your sidekick abilities." Piper supplied jokingly, punching him in the arm. "You really should take a shower more often, Leo. Either that or stop rolling around in oil like the pig you are."

Leo feigned indignation. "Didn't you know? Petroleum is like cologne to the ladies." Leo thrust his thumbs under his overalls and beamed proudly.

"Oh, Leo. Didn't _you_ know? Girls don't like cologne." Jason and Piper laughed at their friend's expense. For a moment, a shadow played over Leo's features, but it rapidly became apparent that it had merely been the shadow of a passing cloud, because his face broke into a toothy grin a second later.

They shared an honest, raucous laugh before sobering ever so slightly. Jason hooked his arm around Piper's waist, determined to keep her close now that they were made up. "So, either of you have any ideas about the summons?"

Jason tried to keep the question conversational, but it darkened the atmosphere as badly as if the sun had eclipsed. Leo stared at his blackened hands, coated with slick oil, and Piper pulled away from him. For a moment, there was just tense silence, and then Leo chuckled. "Well, if anybody's got a clue, it's gonna be Beauty Queen. So how about it? You and your dad ever peek into Apollo?"

Piper winced. "He wasn't really ever mentioned in the movie." she admitted hesitantly. "I have no idea whatsoever."

Jason swore and turned back to the rail. Greece was coming into sight, and they were running out of time. They couldn't stop to think or consider their options, but they couldn't blunder ahead blind anymore. Jason didn't know what to do.

"Well, it's bound to be one of the city-states, right?" Leo said suddenly, surprising Jason. He whirled around on him, gaping. Leo shrugged nervously. "Annabeth rambled on about Greece once or twice." he explained. "But isn't there a bunch, anyway? And they're all different governments and stuff. So there's Sparta..."

"Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Argos, Delphi..." Piper faltered. Her eyes narrowed, and then her face lit up. "Oh my gods! That's it! Jason, that's it!" She threw her arms around his neck and laughed in relief. Jason enthusiastically returned the hug, but frowned, glancing at a bewildered Leo. He shrugged.

"Uh... What's it?"

Piper pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "Rachel's the Oracle of Delphi, isn't she?"

Jason nodded, not understanding what she was getting. "Yeah,"

"What's your point, Pipes?" Leo demanded impatiently. Piper turned to him, beaming.

"Back in Ancient Greece, there were all sorts of Oracles. The Oracles of Zeus who divined the will of the gods through entrails..."

Jason scowled. "Like Octavian?"

Piper nodded. "Gods, I don't even know what the others did. But the Oracle of Delphi was the famous one. She spoke the word of prophecy, given to her by Apollo." Jason motioned for her to elaborate, trying his best "Obviously" face. "About the only thing anybody listened to Delphi for was prophecy. And if prophecy is Apollo's..."

"Then Delphi is his sacred city." Jason finished, understanding beginning to dawn. "Piper, you're a genius." He kissed her passionately, peppering it with relief and gratitude. Leo looked neglected leaning against the rail, feigning annoyance. So Jason and Piper wrapped him in a group hug, to which he loudly and colorfully objected to.

Their elation must have been heard on the rest of the ship, because Hazel, Frank, Nico and Coach Hedge materialized up the hatch. "What's going on?" Hazel asked, rubbing her eyes free of sleep. She must have gone to bed after the excitement down below.

Jason carefully avoided Nico's eyes, which bore into his skull with a vengeance. "Guys, we know where Apollo wants us to go."

**See? Not funny. Lighter feeling, but not funny. There should some room for laughter next chapter. **

**That marks the expiration date on the contest. Thus, LadyLeaf8, you are the winner. I will give you a heaping plate of spoilers the minute I get my head in order for this.**

**There will be future opportunities. Never despair. I'm just acting like an idiot right now, aren't I?**

**Alright, so I can't be funny in narrative, but I'm flat ludicrous in my AN's. That is just a taste of my weirdness, ladies and gentlemen. There will be more.**


	8. Chapter 8

VIII: _JASON_

"Delphi?" Nico scoffed and leaned against the wall. "That is about the dumbest - " He stopped mid-sentence and thought about it. "No, no, damn it. That sounds about right. Why didn't I think of that?" Nico rapped his head against the wall once, then stopped and held his head. Hazel grabbed his arm and guided him to a chair, which he protested to weakly.

"Because you still haven't recovered completely," she scolded, handing him a plate. "And you better eat something healthier than the fast food junk you gave me."

Jason quirked an eyebrow at the siblings. He saw a flash of irritation over Nico's face before he groaned and snatched the plate away from Hazel. Instantly, a hamburger materialized. Spitefully, the son of Hades took a bite, grinning at his sister. "Real cheese," he said through a mouth-full of bread, tomato, and processed meats.

Hazel turned red. "Nico di Angelo, put that disgusting waste of food down now!" Nico smiled wider and shook his head. A ghost of a smile flickered over Hazel's face too, and Jason figured this was a common argument between them. "Nico, I'm warning you!"

Nico gulped down a large chunk and sighed contentedly. "Why? Come on, Hazel, you know you want to try." He waved the partly eaten burger in her face, but Hazel swatted it aside. The fast food flew through the air, hitting Leo in the chest.

"Oh man," he whined, spreading his arms. "I guess this means..." He looked around expectantly, and Jason's eyes widened.

"Don't you da - " Piper warned, but it was too late.

Leo grabbed a blueberry muffin from the middle of the table and launched it at Nico's face. He ducked, and instead of hitting him, it hit the wall. A piece of blueberry caught Hazel on the cheek. She looked incredulous. "Leo, what do you think you're doing?"

Leo beamed, his freshly brushed teeth glinting in the flourescent lighting. Jason dove under a table, where Piper had already taken refuge, when their mischievous friend called out, "Food fight!"

Pandemonium struck, a whirlwind of food and drink propelled across the room. Vehement cursing in a variety of languages - Jason made out Greek, Latin, English, French, and Spanish - and laughter was audible from above, but he didn't dare move to watch the disaster higher than feet. Piper crouched beside him, shaking her head and murmuring, "Valdez" while Leo let out a triumphant yell.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Jason by the collar and pulled him out of his sanctuary. He protested, scrambling to his feet just as Piper was drawn from underneath the table as well. When he whipped around to see the culprit, he saw Leo, still grinning like an idiot. His friend pointed in front of him, and Piper let out a small noise.

Slowly, he turned to see the remaining three demigods standing like a firing squad armed with food. Jason blanched and so did Piper. Even Nico, who had previously come across as incapable of anything so childish or frivolous, was holding up a chicken leg like it was a dangerous weapon. Hazel brandished a salad, stifling a laugh, and Frank an apple. Jason was more afraid of the apple than anything else.

Piper gulped and gripped his arm. "Please don't throw the chicken leg at me," she said. Jason turned to stare at her, blinking. The others did the same, until Leo roared with laughter. Consequently, they all did too.

"Seriously, Beauty Queen? We threaten to attack you with food, and your biggest concern is 'don't throw the chicken leg at me?'" Leo turned to the others, and then to Jason.

Jason looked seriously at the last muffin resting in Leo's hand, considering taking it. Then he saw the horror on Piper's face and couldn't resist. "I'm sorry, Pipes. You asked for it."

~1~

It took a while for them to rein it in, and once they did, everyone made a beeline for their showers. Jason launched himself into his, yanking the curtain closed and turning on the jet stream, grateful to be washed clean of the accumulated organic (and inorganic) stuff on his skin. Hedge, indignant as he had been after breaking up the food fight, offered to wash their clothes for them while they bathed. A blue shirt with yellow lightning bolts on it waited for him outside, a gift from Leo. It read "Sparky FTW." Jason couldn't help but appreciate its cheesiness.

He washed his hair quickly, hating how it felt on his face wet. He shook the last of the shampoo out, reaching to shut off the flow when something hot and scalding sizzled down his back. He screamed, jumping out of the shower and tripping over the shower curtain in his haste. The horrible burning sensation continued streaming down his spine like Leo had his hands continually burning Jason's back. Ignoring the steady stream of water from the shower head, Jason leaned against the sink and twisted around to see his backside in the mirror.

He was almost sick.

All the way down his bare back, skin seethed and hissed, stinging viciously and audibly when Jason touched it. The muscle underneath was red, the smallest trace of bone along his left shoulder sticking out, white against red. Horrific amounts of pain washed over him, wave after wave after wave. His knees buckled and he barely supported himself on the sink.

When Jason looked back at the shower, he saw something even more horrifying. Wherever the stream of water touched, the tile began to erode. A terrible moment of clarity struck him as he lunged forward to shut off the stream before it burned through the floor of the Argo.

Thundering footsteps became audible from the hallway. "In here!" He heard Frank cry.

"Jason!" Piper's desperation poured from her call.

Jason swallowed down his fear and threw on his pants with underwear, wincing at the pain from stretching his abused back. He turned away from the door, trying to hide the acid burns from his friends. When they burst in, Leo in the lead, he managed a pained smile. "I slipped," he lied. But Leo didn't look convinced.

Jason's friend's eyes widened when he saw the eroded bathtub and shower curtain, which melted into a puddle on the ground. Leo lunged at him, grabbed his arm, and yanked him around so he could see his back. "Oh gods!" Jason didn't meet Piper's eyes, squinting through the pain. Every breath hurt.

"Look, I - "

"Need ambrosia yesterday," Leo announced briskly, with about the least amount of humor Jason had ever heard in his voice. Even when talking about his mother or reprimanding Jason for "dickhead" behavior, he hadn't been _this_ imposing. Moreover, his accent tinged the sides of his voice, which Jason knew from experience meant he was severely agitated or worried. The next thing they knew, Leo would start speaking fluent Spanish again, losing them all.

"I'm fine," Jason insisted, pulling his arm out of Leo's grasp. He turned to Piper. "Really, it doesn't hurt at - Ah!" The last was a result of Leo gently poking the naked flesh on Jason's back. White-hot pain raced through him, undermining his argument and sending him onto one knee.

Leo patted him on the shoulder. "Piper, get ambrosia and nectar. And some bandages. This looks bad."

Piper nodded and turned to leave, stopping at the door. "Leo..."

"What?"

"You... Never mind." She disappeared around the corner and into the hall.

Meanwhile, Leo helped Jason onto the porcelain seat of the toilet, eyes harsh and scolding. "What happened?"

Jason avoided his eyes. "I don't know. I was about to turn it off when... Well, you see for yourself. It hurt like a chimera's venom, I screamed, got out, and the next thing I knew my skin was _steaming_ like boiling water. I..." He stopped, not wanting to elaborate on the fear and uncertainty plaguing him. Hazel and Frank squeezed through the door frame together, looking worried.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad - ?"

Jason didn't hesitate. "Nine."

Hazel winced. "That looks worse than a nine." she pointed out nervously.

Jason shrugged slightly, wincing again. "It felt like a twenty when I first got it, but now it's a nine."

Piper ran back in with Hedge in tow. The satyr's eyes were firm and commanding when he squeezed past Hazel and Frank and pushed Leo aside. He poured the nectar down Jason's back, which felt like more acid, but then the pain lessened. Jason could feel his skin starting to knit back together. "Thanks," he grunted painfully, closing his eyes for a few heartbeats before opening them to see Hedge's large pupils boring into him. Jason recoiled. "Uh, Coach... You can lean back, you know?"

Hedge frowned, then complied with Jason's wishes. "Get him to the Mess Hall. I'll work some nature magic on him there." Hazel nodded and took a step toward him while Piper grabbed him arm firmly. Jason tried to shrug them off, but the raw flesh on his back stretched and he hissed in pain.

"Jason," Piper warned, helping him up. He staggered forward and Leo held out a steadying hand, grabbing his shoulders and straightening him. Red dots filled his vision and he blinked, trying to clear the crimson away. "Are you alright?"

A thousand sarcastic responses lurched to his tongue at that, but he held them all back in favor of: "I've been better."

Piper and Hazel assisted him to the Mess Hall, where he promptly collapsed from exhaustion and fainted.

~2~

"Delphi is several miles out of your way," Chiron pointed out, settled patiently in his wheelchair on the other side of the Iris Message. He sipped a small glass of water, occasionally patting his brown beard free of the trickled moisture. "Are you sure it won't hinder you tremendously?"

Jason shook his head, sighing. "We can do it. Leo's already working with Archimedes' blueprints to pull it off."

Chiron nodded thoughtfully, taking another sip from his glass. "And he is confident the improvements will work?"

Jason cracked a smile. "Actually, I haven't heard much from him in the past hour. He's spent most of his time in his cabin, working."

The centaur wheeled himself to a nearby sink, where he deposited the glass of water. The Message followed him and gave Jason a somewhat unsettling close-up of his face. Bushy eyebrows were drawn together in a skeptical frown, and the twinkle in his eyes was gone. Jason could make out the sounds of battle and cries of practice from beyond the Big House and knew Camp Half-Blood was preparing for the invasion. Every waking moment would likely be spent fully armed and ready to defend their homes and families to the last man. A terrible thought occurred to him then: They might very well do just that.

"I appreciate you cooperating with us, Jason," Chiron said suddenly, snapping Jason from his thoughts. "To be honest, I was afraid your loyalty to Rome would counteract your desire to assist your new allies."

"You're more than allies, Chiron," he assured him. "You're my friends."

Chiron's eyebrows relaxed back over his compassionate chestnut eyes. "Thank you, Jason." For a moment, Chiron let an ominous silence settle between them. Noises were audible from outside the Mess Hall door - Hedge was discussing the events in the shower with the others in his usual boisterous tones - and Jason fought to ignore them and concentrate on the discerning gaze of his newest trainer.

A thought occurred to him. "Chiron, did you train Jason? The original, I mean?"

Chiron's face brightened with a smile. "Ah, yes. Yes, I did. Your namesake was quite the upstart, you know. Very impulsive. Nearly your polar opposite. But still..." Chiron looked wistful. "A good hero. Strong hero. He had a head on his shoulders rivaling that of Odysseus at times. He was one of my favorite students."

"What about the Argonauts?"

"Oh, I trained them too. There was Heracles - your brother was bitter in that time - "

"Still is," Jason grumbled, remembering the episode not two days ago while crossing the Pillars of Hercules.

"I have no doubt," Chiron agreed. "Nonetheless, great heroes. Atlanta, Orpheus, there was even a seer. Idmon,"

Jason frowned, unable to recall the name. "Who was he?"

"Oh, a son of Apollo. Tragic fate, too. He predicted his own death and died in Mariandyni. Run through by a boar. Jason was distraught after his death." Chiron shifted uneasily in his wheelchair and stood, shedding the Mist disguising him as a disabled middle-aged man and arising in full centaur form; white horse half and all. He grabbed his bow from a nearby table. "It was indeed a pleasant conversation, Jason. Do call us again. I will ensure that Malcolm is present when you do so we may discuss defensive strategies. Goodbye." Chiron swept a hand through the Iris Message and it dispersed into vapor, leaving Jason feeling guilty.

He could have told Chiron about Apollo's prophecy, but decided against it almost as soon as he hailed him. There was no need to force further strife on the old centaur. The wear from centuries of training heroes and watching them die was showing in his eyes, turning a bright, vibrant face darker and darker by the day. Annabeth pointed it out one day, while practicing with Jason in the Arena. Chiron had just trotted off after saying hello, leaving her dejected and miserable.

"He didn't used to be like this," she told Jason. "When I first got here, he was always happy and joking. These wars are taking their toll. He's not as young as he used to be." Tears welled in her eyes. "It's almost like he doesn't want to try anymore."

And watching the somber trainer of heroes cast aside the Iris Message, Jason began to wonder if she was right.

**Alright, it's official. I can't write happy. I can write some happy scenes, carry on for a while, but I can't write happy. I've tried to write a parody and it turned serious. I cannot tell a joke!**

**Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. I realize you might feel rushed from when Jason blacks out to when he talks to Chiron, but it isn't long. Only a little over an hour. Next chapter is Delphi and the prophecy. Promise. Of course, that chapter is going to be in... You know what, you can just wait and see.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So sorry for being on hiatus for so long. I fiddled with a couple versions of this chapter before deciding on this, which has a great deal of Hazel/Nico sibling bonding, just so you are warned. And yes, I realize Nico might be slightly OOC here, but I like to think he's got a sentimental side too. **

**In case you guys don't know, Riordan is trolling us. You want to know his latest announcement? "Guess what, guys? You know that crossover between The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson that you've been begging for for forever? I'm writing a short story about it! At the end of the May 7th edition of Serpent's Shadow! Because, obviously, none of my devote readers have bothered to buy the concluding book in my Egyptian trilogy that was released _the year before_ and I'm going to force you to listen to a stupid Audiobook if you already have it! Oh, and the thing I know but am secretly not telling you guys is that, because I'm writing this short story _before_ any series, I'm not writing a novel crossover. Oh, oh, and I'm making you think _I_ might just write a Percy and Annabeth scene in HoH that is tragic and lovey dovey because I'm an evil, evil writer. Yours in demigodishness!"**

**Anyone else enraged by this? Oh, and go to Amazon and look up the excerpt that he's released. Once you do, join me in our universal moan of "Carter!"**

**Already, shutting up now. Read. And review when you're done. But read first.**

IX: _HAZEL_

Leo's booming announcement startled Hazel while she was munching on potato chips.

"Attention, fellow questers. This is Supreme Commander of the Argo II Leo Valdez speaking. We're less than three miles off of Delphi, the immortal city of dooming rhymes. Prepare for landing."

Hazel chuckled at his informal language and glanced over at Frank, who leaned over the railing. Her heart skipped a few beats when he returned her bashful smile and silently scolded herself for being so head-over-heels in love with him. She'd never admit it aloud, but she was fairly sure she'd fallen for Frank when he tripped over himself on his first day at Camp Jupiter. Right into her. It had been the day right after Nico had left for the first time, and Hazel was irritable as a consequence. But when he started babbling about how sorry he was, she couldn't help but laugh.

"He gets more ridiculous every day," Frank chortled. Hazel blinked, momentarily befuddled until she realized Frank was talking about Leo.

She grinned and nodded. "I guess he does." She hooked her arm with Frank's, mimicking one of the many actions of Piper toward Jason. Frank raised an eyebrow, slightly red, but she rested her head against his shoulder and stared off at the horizon. "Do you ever think about what you're going to do after..." Hazel struggled for the words. "...this?"

Frank shifted uneasily. "Not really," he admitted. "Everything else kinda takes priority."

Hazel opened her mouth to pursue the issue, but the intercom clicked on again. "Attention, ladies, gentlemen, and Frank," Hazel turned to the hatch just as it opened to reveal Jason's face, partially foamy from what appeared to be an interrupted shaving. Meanwhile, Leo continued to ramble. "I've got to make a little pit stop _right_ outside Delphi to install a spark plug and a - "

Jason staggered onto the deck as Piper emerged, looking annoyed. She turned toward the pilot's station and called, "You're speaking in Vulcan again, Valdez!" She turned back to Jason and whipped off the white gunk from his chin, chuckling.

Leo faltered momentarily. "Don't interrupt the Admiral!" he shouted into the intercom just as Nico climbed out of belowdecks.

He popped his ears. "Well, that was loud," he assessed obviously. His black aviator jacket was thrown over an orange T-shirt. Hazel first noticed it while returning to Jason's cabin after depositing him in the Mess Hall. Nico poked his head out in time to ask her what all the commotion was about, his dark hair plastered over his face, and a hastily donned shirt. At the time, seeing her older brother in color had been somewhat of a shock to Hazel, but since she'd come to terms with it.

Jason faltered when he noticed the unusual choice of clothing, but said nothing. Piper had seen him dressed thusly as well, so she just averted her eyes. Frank gaped. "Is he - ?"

Hazel nodded and squeezed his arm. "Breathe. It's not a sign of the Apocalypse."

Frank looked down at her. "Are you sure?"

Before she could answer, Nico jogged up beside her. "Jason's doing better, I'm guessing." He propped his elbow against the mast, looking the picture of a sleuth. Hazel suppressed a laugh. She wondered how many years it would take for Nico to notice that, to the average girl, he was the epitome of mysterious, dark and handsome. Already, there were girls Hazel's age at Camp Jupiter asking about his availability.

Hazel nodded. "Hedge's nature magic worked perfectly. He slept for an hour or so, but when he woke up he was back to his old self." Suddenly, the wind picked up, buffeting around Hazel. Frank jacket caught the wind and blew up behind him, flapping viciously. Hazel white-knuckled the railing, leaning into the wind so not to be blown backward.

Faster than was safe, the Argo II began its descent. Like a blur, the clouds disappeared and they watched at green earth became clearer and clearer, outlined by mountain ranges. Thousands of hills rolled into each other, blending in a myriad of greens and browns and some greys and whites. A chill ran up Hazel's spine and she shuddered internally.

The intercom boomed one last time. "Everyone buckled? 'Cuz we're landing?"

Hazel felt Frank's arm curl around her protectively, gripping the railing with both hands and anchoring her there. Nico stumbled beside her, and she took his hand. The one time they'd taken a plane together (Nico had to do so because they had to be at Camp Jupiter by sunup and he couldn't shadow-travel. The money had been a mysterious supply they just happened to have.) he hadn't released the armrests the whole ride, and the worst part was when they touched down. Hazel imagined his fear to be the same, but instead of terror stretching over his wan features, there was elation.

She frowned and Nico shouted over the wind, "Leo, where are we landing?"

"Thirty-eight degrees, thirty-two minutes and nine seconds north. Twenty-two degrees, thirty-seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds east."

Nico groaned. "What's that in normal terms?"

For a second, there was a pause. Then: "I think it's some mountain."

Hazel studied her brother's face in puzzlement. He looked ready to burst from excitement, just like a little kid. It was a behavior she had never witnessed from him before. "Mount Parnassus?" Nico said incredulously.

"Maybe," Leo answered, then cursed vehemently.

The ship veered sharply left, narrowing missing the peak of a tall mountain. Some of the snow avalanched off from the near miss, and Hazel got a remarkable view of the cliff face. A light dusting of evergreens down the rocky, uneven mountainside, broken up by splotches of white and brown and grey. The Argo continued to descend away from the beautiful mountain, and Hazel wanted to protest, but she held her tongue. Mostly because the entire range was breathtaking.

She didn't know which was better. The completely green valley snaking in between the monstrous hills or the tall majestic mountains powdered with white because of their higher elevation. Everything was spectacular. Judging by the sharp gasps of her friends, the rest of the crew felt the same.

But Nico said nothing, nor did he exclaim in surprise. He just surveyed the mountain range, an expansive smile on his face. It was the same expression Hazel had worn when she'd seen Arion again in the Amazon's. Content, peaceful, and pleasantly surprised.

The Argo II approached a small cluster of trees surrounded by a pile of ancient stones. Even from about fifty feet up, it was clear it was the remnants of an old temple. Three Doric columns still stood intact, although significantly aged, but their brethren had long since collapsed or worn away. A few foundations remains, the stump of an old pillar peaking from the haphazard stones arranged around the center. The Argo touched down light as a feather a stretch of grass, crushing a few unfortunate stones underneath it.

Nico leaned so far over the railing he almost fell over. The whole time, he wore a smile the Cheshire cat would have killed him for. "Isn't this great?" he whispered to himself, taking a _very_ uncharacteristic sniff of the air. Hazel gulped, feeling Frank tense fearfully beside her. She stepped further into his arms and mustered the courage to point out Nico's abnormal behavior.

"Nico, are you - ?"

He turned to her sharply, and she recoiled, expecting the same flare of rage she'd come to expect from him if asked too many questions. But instead he just beamed. "You've got to see this place," he told her, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to the dock, which started to lower. By far, Nico and her were the first ones off the ship, followed by Frank, then Jason and Piper and finally Coach Hedge, smacking his palm with his club "intimidating."

Nico leapt over jagged rocks and haphazardly fallen trees. His earlier smell hadn't been causeless - the air had a cleaner odor to it than even Alaska - and neither had his maintained elation. Looking around as she was escorted to wherever her older brother was taking her, Hazel saw just how beautiful the surrounding forest was. A pleasant aroma filled her nostrils, and Hazel wondered what the trees were. They were large, with leaves and branches up and down their length rather than clustered more at the top. They had a powerful scent and were bright forest green.

The sky was clear blue, with the occasional wisp of a cloud floating by. Not a scrap of pollution clung to the air. _So this is what they mean by all natural_, Hazel thought numbly as Nico pulled her up the hill. She rapidly realized he carted her up a mountain.

"Nico!" Hazel called, shooting a look over her shoulder at the others gathered below, watching in puzzlement. "I really don't think we have the time to hike to the top!"

Nico was several meters ahead of her when he braced himself against a tree and turned back to her. In his appropriated orange shirt and faded blue jeans, with that smile on his face, he looked his age. An eager thirteen year old kid excited to go exploring. Hazel wondered when the last time he looked like that was and felt a rush of gratitude that she could to see such a rare side of him. "We don't have to get to the top." He turned back around and raced up the mountainside, shouting over his shoulder, "We're almost there!"

Hazel raised her hand, slightly out of breath, to hail him to stop, but he was out of earshot. The wind picked up and carried her voice on it. She had no choice but to follow if she didn't want to separate. "Nico, wait!" She called instead, knowing he couldn't hear that either, and forced herself higher up the slope.

Nico laughed mirthfully from his position about thirty feet above her. The incline had gotten steeper, and now Hazel had to leap from tree to tree to avoid slipping off and hurting herself. She grabbed a series of branches, scraping up her hands, but Nico waited for her on a plateau and she was determined to meet him there.

Finally, gasping for air, Hazel staggered to Nico's side. "What - "

Nico pointed directly ahead of him, beaming. "Look."

Hazel didn't understand what he was doing, but she looked anyway. Only then did she realize the sun was setting, it had been so much time since that morning. That meant they only had four days to get to The House of Hades and close the Doors of Death, all while freeing Percy and Annabeth and restoring Minerva's legacy. In that moment, the impossibility of their task settled over Hazel and she despaired.

But her discontent was short-lived.

The sun lowered itself over the expanse of hills in the distance, shades of pink and orange blending together on the horizon as the last trace of the sun faded. Darkness was warded off by the still struggling rays, held at bay a few seconds more even as the day waned and nighttime took over. Hazel found it easier to breathe, a sudden weight lifted from her shoulders.

How people had ever misconstrued the dawn as the time of hope eluded Hazel. Sundown was far, far superior. The symbology of knowing that even as the sun was wrestled to submission in the sky but would ascend in the morning was the greatest invigoration of all.

Hazel watched the last of the oranges disappear and the moon take shape in the distance. She turned to Nico. "Thank you."

Nico smiled at her warmly and offered her a hug. She took it. "Anytime," he told her, then paused. "Well, after all of this. I shadow-travel over here all the time. Not lately, but..."

Hazel pulled away, tilting her head curiously. "You like this place?" she asked.

Nico gaped at her. "Gee, Hazel, and I thought I was being subtle!" She laughed. Nico sobered instantly, turning a wistful gaze back on the horizon. "I saw the dawn here first. I wish you could see that too, but I don't think we have time. I need to take you back here, show you around." He winked at her. "Hike to the top."

Hazel gasped mockingly. "Gods, I don't think I'd survive the trip."

Nico guffawed, backing up and sitting down at the foot of a tree. He patted the ground beside him for Hazel, which she took. Nico pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his elbows against them, staring off into the distance. "I had a nightmare last night," he said suddenly. Hazel started in concern. "It wasn't a vision. Just saw everything going wrong with this quest - me getting you lost or leading you into a trap, Leo losing control and burning down a city, Athena warring with Poseidon over Athens. You know, happy stuff." Hazel couldn't suppress a smile, the turn of phrase was so similar to Percy's. For the first time since his fall, that thought didn't depress Hazel. If anything, it gave her hope. "I felt kind of...hopeless after that. But then Piper announced that the city we were going to was Delphi, and I _knew_ we had to at least pass over Mount Parnassus. You have no idea how relieved I felt."

"I think I got an idea," Hazel agreed, remembering Nico's mirthful participation in the food fight. She settled against the tree and crossed her legs. "So this is Mount Parnassus."

Nico nodded. "You know the ruins down there? That's called _The Tholos_. It was a temple for Athena way back in the ancient days."

Hazel frowned. "But I thought Delphi was Apollo's city."

Nico nodded. "It is. The Temple of Apollo is farther in. This is, like, the outskirts. Kind of like the gateway into Delphi. Considering it was the center of the Oracle and that was about the other reason anyone visiting, Athena's wisdom was pretty fundamental. Not that anyone used it." he smirked and rested his head against the tree trunk. "I wish I could spent the night here."

Hazel nodded wordlessly. "We don't have time, though. The others are probably worried by now."

Nico sighed, shifting forward and stretching out his legs. "For you, maybe. I don't think they like me much."

Hazel opened her mouth to argue, but one disbelieving look from her brother silenced her. "They don't know you as well as I do," she said quickly, hoping to console him.

Nico forged a few feet down, slipping over loose gravel on his way down and bracing himself against a tree. He turned and held out a hand. "I'm difficult to get to know," he ceded, yet another grin playing on his face as Hazel reached for his hand, but lost her footing and skidded down the slope too many feet for comfort. Sore, she struggled to her feet, leaning against another of the plentiful evergreens. "What are these, anyway?" she asked, nodding toward her support.

Nico rested a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Greek firs," he answered easily. "I think Annabeth told me once that the Celts believed it represented honesty and resiliency and friendship."

"They're beautiful." Hazel admired the bark, plucking a small piece off and tucking it in her pocket. When Nico looked at her questioningly, she said, "To remember."

Nico smiled even wider than before and squeezed her shoulder once before letting go. "They mean that, too."


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm sorry this chapter was slow in-coming. I wrestled with the characters in this one and still botched it. It does have a stronger Riordan-esque feel to it than some of my other pieces, which I'm proud of. I also like my characterization of the seer, but that isn't for the writer to decide. Hopefully, updates all around will be more frequent now because of a new evolution in my writing capabilities. **

**For those of you who read Forgotten Fear, I edited Twenty-Six (I think) to make it better. It's the most recently uploaded. The first draft was simply inexcusably atrocious, and as a vital interlude chapter, it needed to be redone. Also, readers of "Aftermath," please review those short-stories. I put a lot of thought into those and I _never_ receive feedback. I'm also getting less and less reviews for my other stories, which makes me question the productivity of spending hours typing these stories if I'm not receiving anything in return. I wonder if anyone really reads this anymore. **

**Also, No More Death adopters have until the end of the year to submit their entries, as I have received nothing. At the end of November 30, I will delete that story from and leave anxious fans forever wondering the end. Alright, so none of you are that invested, but you get my point. **

X: HAZEL

Nico helped Hazel the rest of the way down the cliff, to where the others were still waiting. Piper and Jason were both sitting a large rock, holding hands with wan expressions and messy hair. Coach Hedge paced back and forth behind them, heaving his club and swinging it through the air, muttering about how he was going to bash Hazel and Nico for being gone past curfew. Leo sat on a sistering rock, fidgeting with various electronics and putting them together in ways Hazel would probably never understand. Frank was nowhere in sight, which bothered her.

Nico and her ran up to the others, shouting and waving to get their attention. Piper was the first to recover from her shock upon seeing them. At which point she surged to her feet and stormed over, already in mid-rant. "Where have you two been?" she raged. "Do you have any idea how worried we've been? We didn't know what happened to you, and when you didn't come down, we thought monsters had gotten you. Frank told us he saw more gryphons flying overhead once while looking for you two. We thought Gaea had gotten ahold of you and..." Piper trailed off, her voice sticking.

Despite the harshness in her words, Hazel could hear the underlying concern. Piper and the others had been legitimately worried for her brother's and her welfare, and it warmed her heart to know it. "I'm sorry, Piper, I -"

Piper whirled on her and jabbed her in the chest. "And what is wrong with you? I thought you were more responsible than that, Hazel. What were you thinking?"  
Hazel shied away from her painful hand, about to defend herself, when Nico cut between them. "Actually, it was me."  
For a moment, Piper just stared at him as though she didn't believe her ears. Then, slowly, she took a step backward and looked him up and down. Her expression read something akin to: Alright, I know you've been possessed now. "You?"

Nico nodded. " I've been here before, and I thought Hazel might like to see the view. We had time."

Piper made a halfhearted scoff. "Had time? Nico, since when do demigods ever have time?"

He shrugged. "Never," he ceded. "But I figured since Leo was indisposed with the Argo II, we could sight-see a little."

Hazel studied each of her friends in turn, their reactions unique. Piper simply gaped at Nico, trying to grasp what he was saying. Jason narrowed his eyes as though thoughtfully studying a scientific specimen. Leo dropped whatever he was working on and stared at him. Hedge let his club pendulum-swing from his hand as he favored Nico with a dumbfounded look.******  
**

Hazel rested her hand on Nico's shoulder, nodding at him to step back. "I'm sorry we worried you," she apologized, knowing it wouldn't occur to her brother to do so. "But it was worth it. The view up there is amazing."

Piper nodded, seemingly content with that simply justification. She blinked, turning her gaze back on Nico, then blinked again and looked at Hazel. When she finally found the control to speak, her words dripped with charmspeak. "Never do that again, okay?"

Hazel agreed amiably. "Never." Nico opened his mouth to contribute, but Hazel squeezed his shoulder. "Where's Frank?" She knew fear underlaid her tone, but she couldn't help it.

"Flying overhead," Piper reassured her. "We'll send up a signal when we get back to the ship. Come on." She headed toward the ship after Leo, who had already taken off. Jason trailed behind her, and Hedge gave Nico and Hazel a very thorough looking-down before trotting off toward the Argo II.

Nico and Hazel hung back a few minutes, admiring the view from the valley below like they had from up top. "I don't get what all the fuss is about," Nico muttered to himself. "Honestly, it's not like they haven't done worse. The way I hear it, McLean set the quest back a day because she had to rescue her dad."

Hazel gaped at him, partly out of indignation that he'd referred to that quest in such a way - Leo filled her in while Frank, Percy and Hedge were off galavanting wherever it was they were - and partly because he'd ruined a wonderful moment. "Nico!" she cried. "They were worried about us. There's no need to be nasty."

Nico shrugged disinterestedly. "Like I said, they were worried about you. I'm just a liability to them."

Hazel didn't know what to say. The crew's reactions hadn't exactly supported a cheery disposition toward her brother, but the submissive look in his eyes told her she had to convince him he was wanted.

Then she looked closer into the dark brown. Once upon a time, Hazel could see what amounted to centuries worth of knowledge stored in their depths because of Nico's easy communication with the dead and dying. That had always added a lively spark to his gaze, a kind of resiliency that challenged the world to try him; like he could care less. Now there was fragility there, like fractured glass. Initially, Hazel thought most of Nico's uncharacteristic behavior had been due to his traumatic experiences and that he'd get over it. But the shattering feeling in his eyes told a completely different story.

"We should catch them before Leo gets impatient," she said quickly to hide her hesitation while studying him. Nico startled. Apparently, he'd been watching her too. Hazel grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him off. "Come on."

~1~

Less than two hours later, Leo announced the center of Delphi was in view.

For the past half-hour or so, Hazel had retired belowdecks to reflect on her discovery regarding her brother. Fifteen minutes after that, Frank knocked on the door.

He cracked it open a few inches and peeked from the hole. "Can I come in?" he asked bashfully, eyes turned fixedly on the ground.

Hazel chuckled at his innocence. "Yes, Frank. And I'm decent."

Her boyfriend shuffled in hastily, accidentally bumping his bow - which was slung over his back - against the door frame and his elbow too, instigating a curse from the nervous son of Mars. Frank's snow jacket was not on his person, remarkably enough, which left his purple shirt to show off a considerable amount of musculature. Hazel understood that most girls would find that attractive but Frank's boyish face would detract from the image. She didn't care. She loved him for all the bumbling idiocy and naivete. Sometimes, it reminded Hazel that the entire twenty-first century was not populated by money-grubbing jerks with fantastical inventions that boggled her mind.

"Hey," Frank greeted simply, sitting down on the bed beside her. "Are you alright?"

Hazel grinned. "What? You're not going to lecture me on how careless it was to go off on my own with Nico without telling you guys where we were headed?"

Frank smiled too. "I thought about it, but I'm sure Piper beat me to the punch."

"She did," Hazel confirmed, then the conversation fell into an uncomfortable silence. Ever since the fiasco with Leo and Sammy and all of that, Frank had been distancing himself. Almost like he didn't trust Hazel to remain faithful to him and didn't want to get hurt. It was painful, but these shining moments of friendship was all it took for Hazel not to snap.

"So... Uh, how's Nico?"

Hazel winced, the uncomfortable discussion starter cutting into her like a knife. "He's... Oh, Frank, I don't know what he is. I mean, sometimes he seems completely like himself. And then others..."

"He pulls stuff like tonight," Frank finished with a sigh. "I figured as much. What do you think is wrong?"

Hazel stood and started pacing irritably. "Tartarus, maybe? I mean, it's the most logical explanation. But he isn't broken. I mean, he isn't insane or anything else. He's just...not himself. And I know Tartarus can change you, but can it change you without leaving mental damage? And if it can't, then where's the problem? Frank, I'm worried about him. And I'm scared. He's supposed to lead us to The Doors of Death, but what if he seizes up when we get there? What if he has some shell-shock episode and - "

"Wait," Frank cut in. "Shell-shock?"

Hazel faltered and gaped at him. "Really? I thought you'd know about that. It's when someone has this traumatic experience and they hallucinate and..."

"You mean PTSD?" he interrupted again, causing Hazel to start and cross her arms. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," he elaborated. "That's what we call it now. You really think he has it?"

Hazel exhaled slowly and collapsed back onto her bed beside Frank. "That's the thing. I don't know. How can I help him if I don't know?"

Salty warmth started to trail down her cheeks, and until Frank wiped a tear away, Hazel hadn't even realized she'd been crying. She let him pull her into a hug and rested her head against her chest, just like a real couple.

Suddenly, Leo's voice boomed on the intercom - yet again. "Attention, fellow shipmates. Delphi proper or whatever the heck it's called is in sight. A great big ole' temple thing with a bunch of collapsed and eroding stuff. You know, typical ruins. Anyway, I used a pair of binoculars and I think there's a creepy old dude in a robe down there. I'm not sure though. Superman, you oughta fly down there and take a look."

Frank glanced up at the intercom above Hazel's door. "Do you think he was deliberately pretending I can't turn into a bird or is just stupid?"

Hazel pushed off his chest and swatted him. "What is it with people today? Everyone is crass with everyone. It's annoying." She used her sleeve to wipe off her face. "We should go up on deck for landing. We'll need all hands on deck for this one."

Frank nodded and glanced at his shirt, which was slightly damp from Hazel's tears. "I'll just say I spilt water on it," he assured her and stood up, opening the door for her like a gentleman. And he only stumbled once.

~2~

Hazel used to think all ruins looked the same, but that wasn't true.

Apollo's temple at Delphi was rectangular, not circular, and more of the columns still stood. It overlooked a grassy cliff, not in a valley, and the trees were held farther at bay. It was clear researchers had paid more attention to this location than _The Tholos_, as it was better preserved.

Hazel walked up the ramp first by unspoken unanimity. Perched on a brick wall with a quill and piece of parchment was an older man wearing a tall hat like a Pope's and wearing long Greek robes. His elderly face looked thinner and more fragile than the parchment, with delicate crinkles on nearly every inch of skin. He'd look like a rotting corpse, if it weren't for the lively glint in his eye when he looked up to see Hazel approach him.

"Hello, child of treasure," he greeted, gesturing toward a seat beside him. "I've been expecting you."

Hazel gulped and glanced over her shoulders at her friends, who stared at the older man in confusion and disbelief. "I, uh, I have friends with me, sir."

The seer nodded knowingly. "I expected them too. Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo, Gleeson Hedge." He turned his eyes on Hazel, and if he had been spectacles, it would have been the epitome of a teacher look. "Hazel Valerie Levesque."

For some reason, the use of her full name sent an ominous chill down Hazel's back. Her words stuck in her throat.

Piper stepped in beside her and placed a comforting hand on Hazel's shoulder, telling her she could take over. "Mister Seer, sir, can you please tell us your name?"

The seer nodded.

Piper waited, only to receive no answer. "Well?"

"Well what, my dear?"

Piper seemed to be controlling herself with difficulty. "What is your name?"

The seer smiled and raised his quill in a scholarly pose. "Ah, you didn't ask that the first time, you see. You must be very careful with wording when asking questions, or you could get a completely different answer than what you were looking for."

They continued to wait.

"Impatient folk, aren't you?" the seer chuckled. "Well, my name is Idmon, and I was once a member of the Argonauts before my time came. I knew your great-grandfather, child," He nodded at Frank. "very well. Periclymenus was a good, dependable man. Slightly high-spirited, albeit, which was part of the reason Heracles fell him. But nonetheless, a good man."

Hazel noticed a disinterested look in Idmon's eyes, as though his mind was a hundred places at once. "Um, sir?" she asked tentatively. "We came here to ask..."

Nico grabbed her arm suddenly and firmly, causing her to jump. She whirled around, about to tell him off for interrupting her, but then she saw the look on his face. That was the look he wore when a dracaena attacked them in Austin. She gave him the floor.

Nico sauntered forward and knelt down respectfully. "Lord Idmon, can you provide us with the prophecy we require to go to Epirus, Greece and close The Doors of Death without losing our friends?"

After he finished asking his well-phrased question, Nico looked up at the seer. Idmon's eyes were soft when he motioned for Nico to stand. "I'm afraid there is no way for you to avoid loss on this venture, my friend. There will be tears shed and loves lost on your way to The House of Hades; that is the Fates' will." He smiled ironically. "I am only the messenger."

Hazel couldn't tell if he was aware of the related phrase or not.

Nico shook his head. "Who?" he demanded, suddenly frantic. "Who will we lose? What tears? What loves? What are you talking about? What do you -" Idmon handed Nico the parchment.

Nico stopped mid-sentence and stared at the proffered paper in wordless shock. It was clear he had already read what it said. He didn't move to take it from the old man, even as Idmon's arm trembled from the effort of holding it up.

Hazel glanced at the others, and they stared at her intently. Mustering her courage, she stepped toward her bewildered brother and took the parchment from Idmon, squinting against the sun to read the Ancient Greek characters. But although she seemed to have been born with a basic grasp on what letter represented what, she had no idea what they meant.

"Nico?" she said slowly, resting a hand on his shoulder. He startled as though from a trance. "What does it say?"

Nico's eyes grew wild when she asked him to read it aloud, as if that was the most unreasonable request Hazel had ever had of him. But he nodded and reached for the paper.

He closed his eyes and looked at Idmon one last time before sighing and turning his eyes to the lettering:

"You must return that which was taken,

lest Wisdom's rage your failure awaken.

One of your number lost in the Gate,

another abandoned for choice's mistake."

Nico didn't say anything after that. Instead, he simply handed it to Hazel and turned his back to the old seer, running his skinny fingers through his hair and squeezing past a bewildered Frank.

Piper's expression was anticipating, eyes occasionally darting to either side as though expecting tragedy to strike immediately and unexpectedly. Frank's hand twitched up toward his bow, eyes fixated on Idmon. Hedge strode forward and proclaimed, "I ain't gonna get lost in any Gate, you hear me, old codger?"

But Jason looked uncharacteristically pensive, staring that the seer without a tell-tale grimace or word. If Hazel hadn't known him so well, she might have assumed the prophecy meant nothing to him. But that belief would have been instantly discarded when when she saw his fists clench.

"What does it mean?" he asked measurably. His voice was definitely strained. Piper turned to look at him in concern and reached out a settling hand, but Jason stepped past the outreach and in front of Hazel, almost protectively. "What does the prophecy mean?"

Hedge scoffed. "C'mon Jason, you know better than that. Prophecies don't tell you what you wanna hear, and they definitely don't tell you what they mean."

Jason ignored him. "I'm giving you three seconds to tell me what's going to happen."

Hazel gaped at him, wondering if she'd somehow become delirious, because there was no way Jason would act like this. She checked the air for the scent of death, in case one of the eidolons had discovered a way around their oath to Piper, but it was rife with life. She glanced at Piper, figuring his girlfriend would have some idea what was going on, but she looked just as shocked as Hazel felt.

Idmon only shook his head and sighed. "I know you will face loss and indecision, young hero. I do not know how. Just like I could not know how I would meet my demise when I journeyed with the Argonauts. Only the Fates' are privy to all that will come. I am only the conduit to the mortal -"

"Shut up!" Jason roared, dropping Idmon and reaching for his sword. Hazel cried out, lunging forward to stop him. Staggering in front of the old seer, she threw up her arms as Jason began to unsheathe his gladius. "Hazel, get out of my way!"

"No!" she screamed back at him, batting his hand away. "Jason, I know the prophecy doesn't sound good, but..."

"You don't get it!" Jason roared. "It's not just bad. It's... It's..." He looked around her at Idmon, his rage suddenly forgotten. "I can't let it happen."

Hazel turned to watch Idmon's response and found that the seer's face was undaunted, and when Jason asked his question, it turned thoughtful and sympathetic, a thin smile playing across his features. "That is the funny thing about Fate, my dear boy. Even as its instrument, there is very little you can do to manipulate or avert it. What will come will come, I'm sad to say."

"But what's coming?" Jason pleaded, forgetting his sword. Hazel stepped aside tentatively, letting Jason kneel on one knee in front of him. "I can't let one of my friends die -"

"I cannot see who you will have to choose between," Idmon said patiently. "But I can tell you that, when the choice presents itself, the answer will be obvious. Your only handicap will be putting aside your anger to choose the right one."

Hazel puzzled over the exchange, understanding beginning to formulate around the words. Jason was going to have to choose between two or more of his friends, and one of them would die. He couldn't save both of them. One would be obvious choice, but he'd have a vendetta against them because of...something.

Jason sighed dejectedly and stood. "There isn't any way to..." He trailed off, letting the unfinished hang in the air. Idmon just shook his head and Jason turned and walked back to the group. Piper hooked his arm with hers and muttered something. He nodded. She closed her eyes and looked off at the horizon.

"However," Idmon said suddenly, standing up and slapping his thighs with the vitality of a young man. "Young Mr. Grace had the right idea. I do suggest you draw your weapons, as the enemies will arrive shortly."

"Enemies?" Leo demanded, already pulling out his hammer from his tool belt. "Did you Sight-See it or something?"

"It's called to Foresee," Idmon corrected him easily. "And I did not have to. They came because of me." Hazel frowned and turned to Nico, who stepped in front of her protectively and drew his Stygian iron blade. "You see, I had to warn you of your impending conflicts, but the only way I could negotiate my rebirth into this world was by promising Gaea I'd lead her to you. I did not tell her of the greater chance of your victory."

As if on cue, monsters began to filter in from the trees on the hill and the cliff below, closing in from all sides. Their group condensed and Hazel's back pressed against Piper's. All of them were crouched in preparation for battle.

"Greater chance?" Hazel echoed incredulously, her _spatha_ making a scraping sound as she unsheathed it. "Does that mean there's a chance we won't win?"

Idmon smirked at her knowingly as a snake-woman drew back a bowstring directly behind him. "I try not to think negatively."

And then the arrow flew.


	11. Chapter 11

_XI: HAZEL_

A sharp, brief whistle rang through the air and ended just as the arrow pierced Idmon's chest, directly in his heart. The seer's face froze in a smile and he crumpled to the ground.

No sooner had his body _thudded_ against the ground than the sounds of twenty or bowstrings being drawn tensed the air. The five demigods gasped in alarm and fear as Hedge took a thundering step forward just as a Cyclops released his shaft. Hedge called out in pain, dropping his club and grabbing his left arm, staggering. Hazel heard another bowstring being drawn directly behind her and ducked just as Frank loosed three arrows consecutively, falling four monsters (one blew up on impact).

Frank reached for more arrows, firing them off in close succession as the enemy archers took aim. Several more projectiles whizzed through the air around them, but either the demigods avoided the attack or the attempts were so far out it was pathetic. Considering several of the monsters were Cyclopes, their depth perception must have been terrible.

"Omega 3!" Jason shouted suddenly, and Hazel frowned, wondering what a vitamin had to do with anything. But Piper and Leo seemed to understand, because Piper tumbled to the right and down the steps, drawing fire, as Leo opened fire - literally - on a bunch of monsters closest to them. Jason shouted something that was immediately lost on a gust of wind that ripped the bows from the monsters hands. Hazel didn't know where to look - at Piper as she decimated the monsters' ranks, silencing them with nothing more than her charmspeak and plunging her dagger in their belly. Or Leo as he cackled manically, shooting fireballs out of his hands like some superhero. Or Jason, who weaved and bobbed through the assaulting spears and javelin throws, cutting down monsters without breaking a sweat and only occasionally summoning an assisting burst of wind.

Hazel figured standing around was no longer a smart thing to do, so she charged into the fray with a battle cry. Frank was fast on her heels, releasing a flurry of arrows into the midst of the fighting with expert precision. Nearly every move Hazel made was backed up by an arrow that vaporized however many monsters at once.

Hazel felt cumbersome, especially compared to Jason, who moved almost as easily through the army as Percy had with the shades. Her sword was too long and heavy, chosen out of preference rather than practicality. Although it had served her well repeatedly during her battles, this skirmish wasn't cut out for Calvary of any sorts. But Hazel had grown accustomed to holding her blade, so extinguishing the enemy wasn't overly difficult.

It hit her suddenly that Nico was nowhere in sight. Usually, he'd be the first into the fight, but she couldn't see him. "Nico!" she shouted. Whirling around to block a dracaena from swiping out her legs. "Nico!"

"He's up there!" Jason called, pointing at the hill as he called on the wind. The sky rippled with electricity, and lightning descended on a horde of monsters. Sufficiently charred, they burst into black dust and Jason leapt over a fallen shield and cut off a charging Earthborn's head.

Hazel looked where Jason indicated and saw that, indeed, her brother, scrambled up the mountainous hill as monsters pursued him. There were about twenty of them. Periodically, Nico would turn around, bracing himself against a tree, and engage in combat. But he seemed to have some sort of plan, because he continued to climb with a battalion of fiends nipping at his heels. A dracaena loosed her arrow on him and he stumbled, reaching for his shoulder.

Hazel glanced frantically between the imminent battle raging around her and her soon-to-be-dead older brother. She pursed her lips, unable to decide, when she heard Leo's voice calling from behind her. She whirled around and saw a bunch of Karpoi flailing around with their heads on fire. "Go!" he shouted, jerking his head toward Nico while braining a charging Earthborn. "We got this!"

Leo barely dodged a spear thrust, calling out and swinging his hammer up into the Earthborn's groin. It groaned and burst apart.

Three Cyclopes charged her, and Hazel dispatched with one, but Frank killed the last two, each one getting an arrow in the eye. She shouted a "thank you!" over the general chaos, but she wasn't sure if Frank heard her. Hazel tumbled under a spear thrust, staggering as she rose, and blocked an attack with a sword. She stuck her sword in the kink in its armor and stole its shield as it fell to the ground.

Her eyes flitted back up to the hill. Nico had disappeared into the trees, the last of the horde filtering in after him. The sounds of battle on the cliff drowned any cries for help her brother might have called. The monsters pushing her back were far more pressing than her brother's indeterminate situation, but she couldn't the sinking feeling in her stomach that if she didn't do something, she might lose him.

She bit her tongue hard, hating herself, and turned and ran toward the hill. To Piper and Hedge and Frank, it might have looked like she was retreating, but Jason and Leo knew better. She had to be content with that.

She kicked an empousa out of her way and swung her sword over her head, like she'd once seen Percy do. The monsters leaned back, out of the danger zone, and Hazel wasted no time breaking through the subsequent hole in the group. The monsters got thinner toward the outskirts, and as she clambered over a large pile of stones, they completely ignored her, congregating around the greater concentration of demigods. Hazel hesitated on top of the pile and glanced back at the fray.

Leo burned a circle around him, which held some of the monsters at bay. But most of them didn't seem to care, especially the Earthborn and Karpoi. They just vanished and reappeared in the middle of the circle, forcing Leo to fight again. Judging by his slower reactions and hunched stature, he was running out of energy. Jason wasn't summoning storms to back him up anymore, instead just fighting normally. Piper's voice called over the din somehow, even though Hazel couldn't see her. "Lay down your weapons and hold up your hands!" A collective clatter of swords and spears followed her order.

Hazel fists clenched and she scrutinized the battle, trying to determine who needed more help; her friends or her brother.

But then an earthquake knocked her off her pedestal and she scraped her palms on the stone, throwing her hands out to guard her face. The monster faltered their relentless attacks and Hazel heard Leo call "To the ship!" as something massive lumbered down the hill.

Hazel pushed herself up and saw Nico sprinting down the hill faster than he ever had before. Monsters pursued him, but their intentions didn't look malicious; more like they desperately trying to avoid getting crushed underfoot too.

A giant half the size of the hill stalked down after Nico and the fiends, shouting in Ancient Greek as he went. His feet weren't the scaly snake legs as most of his brethren had, but rather something that looked to be in the metamorphosis between cat paw and human foot. It was rounder than a normal foot with holes in the toes for retractable nails, but it was the smaller color as human skin and covered with golden hair. His legs were corded in such a way as to appear buff for a four-legged creature rather than a bipedal animal. He wore a dirty skin like a caveman; draped over his left shoulder and covering him to halfway up his knees. His hands were crooked claws, and his head was a lion's maw, frozen in mid-roar.

Nico burst out of the shadows to Hazel's right and staggered to a stop next to her. "Hazel!" he scolded. "What are you do - ?" He shook his head and grabbed her arm, pulling her back toward the ship. Hazel stumbled but willingly followed him, hoping to launch into the sky fast enough to be out of his reach by the time he made it to the bottom of the hill.

Hazel bobbed and weaved in and out of the stones, Nico leaping over the barriers with ease and grace while Hazel gasped for every particle of air she drew into her lungs. They felt as they were collapsing. She didn't have asthma, but fighting continuously for as long as she taxed her beyond her limitations. Nico frequently had to pick her up and get her going again.

They reached the dock of the ship and Nico and Hazel started to climb up. "Take off!" Nico shouted toward the pilot's quarters.

"I can't!" Leo shouted in hysteria, materializing from the tool/armory shed. He looked frantic, and his face was covered with oil. "I tried, but something's wrong with the engine. I think someone sabotaged it."

Jason shoved Hazel aside to stare down his friend. "Sabotage? Who?"

Leo shrugged and shook his head. "I haven't got a clue, Jason, I'm telling the truth. It'll take me at least five minutes to get this thing up in the air."

"We don't _have_ fifteen minutes!" Nico interjected, lunging forward to grab Leo by the collar. "I thought you were a good mechanic! Now I find out you're just reasonably competent?"

Leo bristled and launched a mini-fireball at Nico, who stumbled back in pain. Hazel hastened to intervene, separating the two of them with her arms. Leo tried to get around her at her brother. "Reasonably competent? Who else do you know that can single-handed fix a malfunctioning dragon in a night? I ought to..."

"Leo!" Piper interrupted, resurfacing from belowdecks. "Something's smoking down here!"

Leo pulled up short and turned to look at his friend, who coughed as a gray cloud bellowed up around her. "Smoking? Let me down there," he ordered. Piper descended and Leo disappeared below, leaving Hazel, Jason, Nico, and Frank to figure out a temporary solution as the giant drew closer.

"What do we do?" Jason demanded suddenly.

"I don't know," Frank muttered desperately. "But we need to think of something, and fast. Any ideas, Nico?"

"I used up all of my strategy getting away from that thing in the first place." Nico stepped up to the railing and squeezed it tight enough to turn his knuckles white. The giant was now at the base, kicking the remnants of The Temple of Apollo down and crushing it into powder. "Oh gods, if Annabeth were here she'd have already killed that thing. I opt not to tell her when we get them out."

"Seconded," Jason confirmed, turning to Frank. "Can you put a couple of arrows in that thing?"

Frank raised his bow and fired five arrows within a second of one another. They all embedded between the giant's whiskers and his beady yellow eyes. But he didn't even falter. Instead, he just kept trampling the temple.

"What is that thing?" Hazel cried.

Nobody answered, instead permanently transfixed on the lumbering brute. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet. Either that, or trashing a thousand-plus year old monument was more fun than crushing demigods. It's feline eyes cast around, and its nose scrunched up. "Uh, cats don't have a good sense of smell, do they?" Frank asked hesitantly.

Everyone stared at him.

"We're screwed," he proclaimed, drawing another dozen or so arrows from his quiver and handing them to Hazel. "Keep them coming." With that, he fired the first one into the giant's eye, the next one in his neck, embedding another with its brethren between his eyes, and pretty much shooting every somewhat vulnerable part about him. But as he fired off more and more shafts, the weight in Hazel's arms grew lighter until she only grasped one last arrow in her hand. The giant was now glowered at _The Argo II_ contemptuously, standing completely still as Frank covered him with spikes like a cactus. He blinked over the three arrows in his right eye, and Hazel resisted the urge to get sick. Golden blood trailed from every part of his body, caking his like colored fur so he just looked like he hadn't bathed in a while.

Hazel stared at her boyfriend. "Frank, I don't mean to alarm you, BUT IT'S NOT WORKING!"

He ignored her and took the last arrow, placing it over his heart. It bounced off harmlessly.

For a moment, they just stared in horror at the giant as he began to stroll toward them, looking extremely angry. "Uh, Leo?" Jason called down. "How long now?"

"Three minutes!"

A collective curse came from the group of demigods and they ran down the dock together, prepared to fight him. Frank slid down first, bending down and picking up a stone like he was prepared to launch it toward the giant. Hazel rolled her eyes, seeing for the first-time how narrow-minded her boyfriend could get. But then she saw something teal glint in his hand and caught it before he threw. "What you doing?" he demanded as she wrenched the precious stone from his grasp. It was agate, and a onceover of the underground told Hazel there was plenty more where that came from.

Nico raised his sword and summoned five of the undead to do his bidding, but the giant crushed them underfoot. "Well, that worked," he grumbled, sagging against the ship. "That's it. I'm out of energy. Jason?"

The son of Jupiter scoffed. "I used up what I had fighting that army. Stupid seer."

Frank said nothing. Hazel continued to stare at her hand.

"Hazel, you have any ideas?" Nico asked her, but stopped when he saw what she was looking at. "Don't even think about it. It's suicide."

"It'll buy you three minutes," she protested, eyes flashing when she met her brother's scathing gaze. "You're not the only child of Pluto here, Nico. I can help. Let me."

He shook his head and grabbed her arm. "Hazel, there are limits. If you do this, we won't be able to help you. You're on your own, and Leo can't waste the time letting you climb back aboard."

She sighed, yanking her arm free. "I know. I'll take Arion."

"Hazel, what are you doing?" Frank cut in worriedly, shoving Jason aside to reach his girlfriend.

Hazel looked up at him and stared into his eyes for a handful of seconds. Then she leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss against his lips, reaching into her coat and pulling out Frank's stick. She squeezed that and the agate into his hand, pulling away. "Just in case," she whispered, and ran down the dock straight toward the giant.


	12. Chapter 12

**Before you read this, if you read the version of Chapter 11 that ended with Hazel collapsing the ground under her and falling, please go back and read it. I changed it to satisfy myself a little more with length and quality, and now the end is changed. If you haven't read it, you'll be confused.**

**Chloe the Hybrid, when you're done, please read the A/N at the end of this chapter. Thank you.**

XII: HAZEL

The giant didn't notice Hazel until she jabbed him in the bottom of the paw with her sword, immediately tumbling out of the way before he crushed her with it. An enraged roar hurt her ears and he stomped around in pain, large dots of blood splashing the ground. Hazel sprinted away, casting her mind about for a serious amount of jewels. The giant thundered behind her, each of his footfalls cleared seventeen of hers, but she ducked and dove out of the way. She remembered fighting Alcyoneus and channeled that desperation, but it wasn't difficult. She glanced over her shoulder at the Argo II, as it shuddered and moaned in effort to take off the ground. The giant blotted the faces of her friends from her vision, but all she had to do was think about Frank and she kept running.

"Come on!" she taunted. "You're too slow! Catch me if you can!"

"Crush you!" he bellowed gutturally, bending down to scoop her up. But his paw-like hands couldn't grab her, and she easily maneuvered around him. She felt a rich mineral deposit directly under her feet and closed her eyes, doubling her speed.

The world fell silent, drowned out in the roar between her ears. Every muscle in her body tensed and she stopped, letting the giant catch up. She heard something growl and knew it was the Argo II's engine starting. Her fists clenched. The thundering got closer and then a shadow loomed over her, reaching down to pick her up again. Hazel sucked in a deep breath and reached a mental hand down into the earth, into the deposit, and gathered all in her massive palm, closing her fist tightly around it, and pulled up.

The earth surged upward like a geyser, a shower of blue-green jewels showering the giant and her from above. She heard something whiz away in the distance and the sound of growling vanished. The ship was gone.

Hazel smiled and sagged against the ground. The giant collapsed as well, causing a massive earthquake and shattered the ground under her feet. Suddenly, her knees rested on nothing and she plummeted hundreds of feet underground, arms flailing at her sides.

Hazel's eyes snapped open when she saw the jagged rocks below her. Well, this hadn't been part of the plan.

~1~

When Hazel came to, she laid on some sort of a cot. It was a weak mesh that bowed in the middle so that her rear grazed the damp ground, and it felt extremely uncomfortable. She shifted in it, but her arm got caught the hole and in the process of freeing herself, it rolled over and dumped her hard onto the ground.

Suddenly, the earth trembled. If she hadn't known the tremors so well, she would have assumed it was an earthquake. But they were too uniform and rhythmic to be a mere freak of nature; it was a giant. And sure enough, she heard a deep baritone ring out through the cavern - as she sensed it was, some hundred feet or so underground - dripping with irritation. "Stop mocking me, Mimas."

"Stop mocking me, Mimas," answered the same voice, in the same inflection, with the same annoyance. Hazel pushed herself up onto her elbows and strained her eyes through the darkness. Thankfully, the immense shape of the giant was enough to give her more than a decent idea of his location.

She noted that his voice was different from the one belonging to his lion-headed brother; this one was just deep and commanding, not incomprehensibly guttural like the feline. The voice boomed again, this time preceding his argument with a side. "I _know_ Mother did not raise you to be like this." More shaking. The sounds of footsteps seemed to be getting closer and Hazel scrambled to her feet, scowling through the dense darkness to see a small alcove behind a cave wall. She hastened behind it, flattening her back against it and controlling her fearful breathing.

"I _know_ - "

"Shut up!" The voice interrupted itself, and something crashed to the ground in answer to his bellow.

Immediately after, the voice repeated itself and another object smashed. Hazel risked a peek over the corner and saw a cloud of dust gathered in the air from a powdered stalagmite. Then the silhouette of the giant emerged from the dust and she ducked behind cover again.

"Can you stop this so we can discuss the fate of the demigod, Mimas?" The earth quaked a little more, but then it stopped with a great _CRACK!_, as though the stone was breaking. "I am growing tiresome of these exchanges."

A different voice sighed this time, and another crack filled the air. "You just don't have a sense of humor, Clytius. Leon doesn't mind." Hazel had to admit these were the two best giants in rhetoric she'd met. She racked her brain for the names "Clytius," "Mimas," and "Leon" but she couldn't make proper sense out of them or where they came from. She assumed Leon was the lion-headed giant she'd met in Delphi, but she couldn't be sure.

Delphi. The city assaulted her like a her flashbacks, staggering her and stealing her breath away. Idmon. The army. The giant and Nico. The ship. Oh gods, how long had she been unconscious? She had no way of knowing if the ship had been far enough off the ground and safe when the ground collapsed, how was she to know if her friends were safe? She could have killed them with that _stupid_ stunt and she might never know. She could die down here in this godsforsaken hole while the fought Gaea without her. And Percy and Annabeth. Nico must have been devastated. Frank was probably beside himself with worry. Oh gods, what was Hazel going to do?

"Leon doesn't have the brain cells to care, Mimas. And about the girl..."

"Yeah, yeah. I don't understand why we haven't killed her yet." Hazel peaked around the corner again and saw two giants, one a little shorter than the other, sitting down facing each other with a massive stone base between them like it was a dinner table. On the "table," there was the remains of some large, unfortunate animal, which the giants munched on disinterestedly during their conversation. One was bald with greenish snake legs, while the other had small tufts of charred hair atop his head and blue legs. The bald one chomped down on a leg, and Hazel could hear the bone snap angrily.

"I already explained this to you. Mother needs her."

"What for?"

"I told you that too."

"I told you that too."

"Mimas!"

Mimas held up her large scaly arms in surrender. Somehow, the great lumbering brute managed to remind Hazel of Leo. "You know I had to," he teased, chomping down hard on a piece of bloody meat. The red liquid drizzled down his chin and splashed onto the ground, thin enough to almost look like dark red wine. It had a sort of poetic repugnance to it, and Hazel shuddered. "Speaking of the girl, what did you do with her?"

Clytius groaned and waved over at the cot in which Hazel had woken up in. "Over there, where I put her. Where else...?" He looked over at her vacancy and surged to his feet. "She's gone!"

"She's gone!" Mimas cried in the exact same time, earning a scathing look from his brother. Clytius opened his mouth, but Mimas cut him off, "Find her!"

A heartbeat of a pause passed before Clytius thundered off, searching in the opposite direction of the cavern. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief and slunk back into the shelter of her hiding place, grateful that the smarter, more intimidating member of the duo had gone the wrong way. Now all she had to do was get out of here and find her friends. She slid against the wall away from Mimas, crouched down low and searching for an exit.

"Hazel?"

She stopped dead, the small voice instantly sparking recognition in her mind. Nico.

"Hazel, are you - ?" He coughed quietly. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of Mimas. "Are you here? Hazel, please. Help. The ship... I fell. Tried to stop you, but..." Another cough. "The collapse. My chest. I'm bleeding. Hazel, I think I'm dying."

Hazel's fists clenched and tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She knew that wasn't her brother, knew it down to her bones, but it sounded so _real_. Exactly how she thought Nico might sound if he were so close to death and desperate to find her. Weak, quiet, resigned. But at the same time, it had a flourish to it, a sort of exaggerated weakness that Hazel knew she'd never hear in Nico's voice, even as he bled out the last drop of blood. That wasn't her brother, but she couldn't stop herself from wanting to run out and know for sure.

"Hazel, please. Thanatos, he's here. I want to say goodbye to you, before I..." He trailed off and Hazel's heart constricted. She shut her eyes tightly, wanting so badly to throw herself in the direction of her brother's voice. But she steady. She didn't take another step away, but she didn't go back either.

"Hazel, I know you're here!" The voice turned accusatory and tears fell down her cheeks from the effort of restraining herself. "Why won't you help me? Did I do something to you? Hazel, help me, please! I'm begging you, just let me talk to you once..."

Hazel didn't mean to, but the terrible accuracy of the mouth drew it out of her. One small, heartbroken sob fell past her lips, sounding like a drum in the dead silence of the cavern. She froze, covering her mouth, but the damage had been done. The ground shook as Mimas thundered over to her, and before she could run, a large, calloused hand scooped her up and lifted her to eye level.

As Mimas opened his mouth wide, all Hazel could do was shut her eyes and brace herself for her second death.

**I realize you guys are probably a little shocked. "Three updates in two days from thein273? Are you serious? This must be the end of the world. Run for your lives!" Alright, I'm exaggerating. But still, I expect you must be mildly shocked. There is an explanation, and I'm afraid this won't become commonplace.**

**I'm leaving town for a few days, and I won't have any means of continuing this story in the meantime. When I get back, I'm letting to be exhausted and compounded with homework. So the likelihood of me updating again in any timely fashion is slim. **

**For those of you who are reading this A/N in complete disgust because I've continuously threatened Hazel's life, rest assured. She isn't standing in front of any gate, and nobody's making a choice. She's safe. Probably going to be a little banged up, and I'm switching to Frank's POV next chapter, then to Nico's, Jason's, and finally our beloved Gem Girl. But considering the unholy wait you have to endure, one that cannot be remedied by simply skipping ahead as you would likely do in the real book to reassure yourself, the task falls to me to ensure I do not lose a massive fan-base with this stunt. But experience has showed me that having cliffhangers like that works to encourage more reviews, albeit harsh ones at times. It's better than nothing, however.**

**Which brings me back to another point. I've checked, and I've got twenty-four followers, a thousand viewers, but only thirty-one reviews. This is the twelfth chapter, people. I don't understand how hard it is to click the review button at the bottom of the screen and type in a "Hey, this is pretty good, but this might use some work..." You know? I'm not looking for unadulterated praise, either, although it does make me feel warm and fuzzy and accomplished. But you know what encourages me to update faster? Feedback. Legitimate, honest to god feedback. There are literate individuals on this site. You wouldn't be reading if you weren't. So please, just spare five seconds of your day to review? **

**Unless you've been unable to tell, I've been working toward a lighter feel. I think I'm touching it, and although the last chapter had a dark undertone to it, it didn't feel as angsty to me. For those of you who have read my other stories, you know how much I love angst. **

**However, I really like people to review. And so I will be implementing my old incentive: spoilers.**

**Chloe the Hybrid, thank you tremendously for the consistent reviews and feedback you've provided me. As a reward of sorts, you get to ask two spoiling questions regarding The House of Hades. That means I answer two, not that you can only ask two. I would recommend compiling a list of the ones you want answered the most and the least, top to bottom, respectively. In other words, 1 is "O my God, if you don't answer this right now I'm going to die." And 5 being closer to "This question kind of popped into my head while reading this, but I don't care if it's answered." This is so not to spoil your experience reading my work and so you can actually be properly surprised when the time calls for it. I'll try to be thorough in my answers without ranting. Considering there are time-limits to these things, you have two weeks - until March 29th - to respond. If you PM promptly, don't expect a reply until at least March 19th. I apologize, but I simply won't be available. **

**For the rest of you, if I deem you a trustworthy reviewer, I'll give you this same opportunity. It isn't a major incentive for a lot of you, but there are some who seem rather irritable when I don't update, and I'm sure there are more who don't voice it. This sound big-headed and presumptuous, but I don't care. I'm trying.**

**So, thank for your time, those of you who read this. And please, do review.**


	13. Chapter 13

XIII: FRANK

Frank would have thrown himself over the side if Piper hadn't exclaimed, "Frank, stop!" just before he leapt.

Beside him, Nico doubled his speed toward the railing, but a violent gust of wind launched him backward. Frank heard him exclaim angrily as Jason grabbed his arms and dragged him back, kicking and screaming. "Let me go!" he roared. "Hazel is-"

Jason grunted with the effort of restraining the irate son of Hades. "I know," he struggled, staggering backward as Leo tilted the ship. Everyone slid back a little, Frank among them.

He couldn't get the image of Hazel-suspended for a fraction of second on nothing, before tumbling into darkness-out of his head. The paralysis holding his limbs captive released slightly, and he reached for the railing again. Piper called his name again and he froze, knuckles white against the rail.

"She's my sister!" Nico screamed. Frank turned just as the son of Hades drove his elbow hard into Jason's stomach, charging Frank. For a terrifying second, Frank thought Nico was after him, but then he turned slightly and made a beeline for "The Cockpit," where Leo had no idea what was coming. He burst through the door, causing the curly-haired Admiral to jump out of his shoes and scramble for his hammer. Nico shoved him back against the controls and the ship shuddered, the massive dragon figurehead on the bow creaking weakly.

Nico pressed his forearm against Leo's throat, and hissed, "Turn this thing around!"

Leo shook his head. "I can't," he coughed. "There's nothing left back there, and-"

"My sister is not dead. Do you understand me? She's not dead!" Nico grabbed him by the collar, whirling him around, and threw him against the wall, reaching for his iron sword.

The crew recovered from their shock then, just as the Stygian metal descended on Leo's head and he caught it on the "L" of his hammer, where grip met head. Fire danced along the clashing weapons, and Nico's eyes widened as he dropped the blade, roaring in pain. Leo kicked him in the stomach. "You're not the only one who's worried about Hazel!" he growled, brandishing the hammer. "But I am the Admiral of this ship, and you will listen to me. There is nothing to land on back there, and turning around would either be suicide or just set us back another hour. I've got this ship oiled and fueled for the trip to Epirus, but nothing more. We can't dock again. We don't have the time. We will find Hazel." Leo set aside the hammer and rested a hand on Nico's shoulder, but the son of Hades shrugged it off.

Suddenly, a large and dark cloud gathered around Nico like a thick blanket, drawn to him by the shadowy corners of the deck. Leo recoiled in fear. "That had better be a promise," Nico warned, jabbing him hard in the chest. "Because if it isn't, if you fail, the next time you see daylight will be after I summon you from the dead. Am I understood?"

The two of them glowered at each other, long and hard, before realizing that they had an audience. Leo turned awkwardly to the group of gawking teens and shrugged with a laugh. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen," he joked, bowing mockingly. Nico's dark glare never left the back of his head. "but this show has ended. Please filter back to your original places and leave a tip in my awesome and imaginary money jar. Have a good night."

Something hot and wild erupted in Frank's stomach, and before he knew what he was doing, his had his forearm pressed against Leo's throat. His lip curled into an expression Frank found awkward and unnatural on his face, but he couldn't relax his features. His vision tinged red. "Is everything a joke to you?" he demanded. "Hazel is gone, and you're still the happy-go-lucky comedian you've always been. Don't you care?"

Leo pushed him away and rubbed his neck, shaking his head. "What's with everyone blaming me this week?" he muttered, almost to himself. "Did somebody put out a 'accuse Leo of treason every other hour' memo that I missed?"

Frank started to deride him again, but an assessment of his tone revealed the overall sobriety of his murmurings. Leo was talking to himself. After a few more unintelligible words under his breath, he glanced up at Frank and Nico, sighing. "I don't know what to tell you, guys. It's just... I guess I'm just screwing everything up." He laughed bitterly. "Maybe they should call me 'Screw-up Valdez' instead." He spoke so quietly, Frank doubted he expected the others to actually pay attention to what he was saying. But the impact of his words still struck Frank like a hammer in the chest. Guilt shined in Leo's eyes with restrained tears, and in that moment, it came clear.

Leo didn't act nonchalant about everything because he didn't care. He cared too much, and the jokester routine was just that-a facade. Sure, Frank acknowledged that his fellow demigod was just naturally optimistic and funny, but every time something bad happened and he smiled, it was nothing but a bravado. A very good bravado.

But Leo wore no such mask now. It was as if losing Hazel had been the final straw; something was different in his eyes. A distance from everything, like he'd secluded himself with his thoughts. And if the voiced insults were anything to go by, they weren't good.

Leo turned around and pressed a series of buttons on the control board. A female voice came on overhead, "Command Sequence requested to authorize autopilot flight."

"23847409," Leo stated clearly.

"Authorization code accepted. Please enter desired destination coordinates."

Leo punched a few more buttons.

"Thank you, Admiral. Have a good night's sleep."

Leo nodded to himself and grabbed his fallen hammer. "Thank you, Esperanza." With that, he left, heading belowdecks and out of sight.

Solemnity hovered in his wake. Everyone watched him go in bewilderment, jaws aghast and eyes wide. Frank couldn't bring himself to feel anything beyond guilt, however. He'd impugned Leo's compassion and sent him into this sort of thoughtful withdrawal. He didn't even understand what was wrong. Leo might have been regretful or sorrowful before, like when Percy and Annabeth fell, but never like this. Frank remembered that he had been possessed by eidolons, but Piper insured they wouldn't return. Whatever was wrong with him was worse than even that, and Frank would likely never know.

Nico turned to Frank with a dark glare. "I don't know what Hazel saw in you," he said coldly. "You were never worth her time." He faded into the shadows dramatically, face darkening with pejoratively before he vanished from sight altogether.

Frank turned to Jason and Piper, who were still fixated on the hatch, into which Leo descended. He walked up behind them awkwardly. "Does he do this a lot?"

They shook their heads in stunned unison.

Frank whistled, realizing his own need to lighten the atmosphere with some sort of humor. "He'll, uh... I guess he'll... He'll get over it." It was weak, cliche, and not entirely true. But Frank had nothing better to do and had never been one for jokes. That was always Leo or Percy.

He fidgeted with his bow, anxious. Jason and Piper said nothing. He felt out of place, unwanted; so he skirted around them and toward the railing. "I'll take first watch," he declared. "I'll holler if I need help."

Jason and Piper left after Leo without a word.

~1~

Frank focused on a single city in the distance, and managed to hold that in his eyesight for fifteen minutes before the Argo II had blew past it. He sighed, wishing he could start firing arrows to let off steam. But he'd have nothing to aim at, and there were targets on-board, leaving Frank to wallow in silence.

He swore he could hear a siren wailing in the distance or something, but it was probably just the wind. His eyes continued flitting around, looking for anything to concentrate on. Nothing was ever in sight long enough.

Frank glanced to his right, about to say something about his boredom to Hazel, but she wasn't there. A tear almost rolled down his cheek before he stopped it, and a choked sob slipped past his lips. He buried his face in his hands, shaking as the tears started to fall. He clung to the railing, wordlessly praying to every and none of the gods for Hazel's safety.

"Don't let her die," he strangled. "Gods, don't take her. I'll do anything, just don't let her die."

**I'm not overly proud of this chapter. It wasn't interesting or engaging-at least, not as much as I'd hoped it would be. I tried to convey how distraught Frank is after losing Hazel, but writing him doesn't agree with me. **

**Alright, so I'm going to throw this out to the fans. So Riordan has released these trolling spoilers on his page that insinuate a Percy/Annabeth POV in this next book. Initially, my plan was to have just these four protagonists narrating-Nico, Jason, Hazel, Frank-but I'm willing to add on either Percy or Annabeth after Frank's done. There should already be a poll on my profile you can vote on for this, but if there isn't, I'll double-check and see what I'm dealing with. I would like your input. Exploring the crevasses of Tartarus might be fun, but it is also conceivable that would slow down the book to a terrible extent. I already extend my writing more than it needs to be. **

**But in the end, I want your opinions. Keep in mind that many of you are used to my writing by this point: Do you want me to get overzealous? I will include dreams and everything else about Percy and Annabeth's trials and tribulations, but actually including a solid perspective could be too much. Let me hear what you think.**

**Yours in demigodishness,**

**-thein273**


	14. Chapter 14

XIV: FRANK

Frank could feel his stick weighing in his jacket pocket, a lifeline shrouded in layers upon layers of cloth and bubble wrap, hidden there by the concern and thoughtfulness of Hazel Levesque.

Frank tried to tear his thoughts away from his compassionate, beautiful, and brilliant girlfriend, but every time he did, he kept seeing her gold eyes, shining as she leaned up to kiss him. Twice now. They had kissed twice. Both times had been in the wake of destruction. Was he ever going to get to just hold her because? Was he ever going to get that moment he'd seen Percy and Annabeth share at Camp Jupiter, not clinging to each other as fate spun them about in effort to rip them apart; just happy to be together. Gods knew Frank loved her - maybe as much as Percy loved Annabeth, but it was hard to tell until you were presented with that choice.

He felt incomplete. When Hazel was around, things were easier to deal with; no matter what curve-ball the Fates threw at him, Frank could still orient himself afterward. But now his rope was gone. Now he was floundering in the uncertainty of "what ifs" and he couldn't see through the storm building around the Argo II, both literally and figuratively.

Frank blinked, the darkening clouds condensing around the flying vessel distracting him. "What the - ?" he breathed, spotting a dark shape on the horizon.

Too quickly to register, the shadow zoomed toward him and collided hard with the side of the ship. Frank almost lost his footing, hands grabbing the railing as he thought to himself history repeats. Cries of alarm were audible from below, and stomping and scrambling were proceeded by the hatch slamming open and the rest of the crew pouring out, Nico in the lead.

"What's going on?" the son of Hades demanded. The Argo II lurched for what felt like the millionth time and he fell on his back, cursing.

Jason climbed from the hatch just as torrents of rain poured onto the deck, flooding it. His blond hair plastered to his face as he hastened out from belowdecks, hand still concealed in the entry. A second later, Piper knelt on the deck beside him, hand over her eyes. The rain fell like a curtain, and it got harder and harder for Frank to see his friends. "What's going on?" he shouted.

"It's a storm!" Nico called back, and even in the grey atmosphere, Frank could sense his dark form roll its eyes.

"I got that!" Frank fell onto his hands and knees, an icy tempest hitting him in the face. He felt the hailstones pummel his back, the already-present bruises screaming from the onslaught. He scrambled across the deck toward his crew mates, hoping to turn his back to the gale, but it was no use. It seemed to whip him from a million directions all at once, like Frank was in a car wash.

The ship spilled to the left, and with the slick deck, it wasn't anything to send the Seven (plus Nico) skidded against the rail. Frank wound up rapping his head alongside Leo, who groaned, "Tacos are _so _much better than this."

Leo leaned against the whirlwind, eyes scrunched together, and called, "Hey, Jason! This who I think it is?"

Jason shouted back something unintelligible. A second later, the faint glow of Jason's Imperial gold sword arced through the air. The clouds condensing on deck parted, one of them bursting into golden dust, just like monsters did when struck. Jason continued through the storm, jabbing and blocking and redirecting with ease; in many ways, he wasn't dissimilar to Percy, but his movements were more controlled, easier to follow with one's eyes. Not inferior, just . . . different.

For a while, things looked to be turning up. Jason was winning by a landslide, and nothing stood in his way. Some of the menaces took a wispier version of solidity to try and oppose him, but that only made them easier to take out. Jason was unstoppable, truly frightening with a feral expression, heaving chest, and the lightning flashing around him. No one moved to help him.

Frank started to once, but then one of them smacked him across the face. He fell back, arm flailing, only to have his fist travel through the mist like it was . . . well, mist. Jason, on the other hand, was no problem.

That was, until a large piece of wood smacked him on the side of his head and he crumpled, blood thinned in the torrents of rain.

"Jason!" Piper screamed, and it was so heartbroken a cry that Frank felt his heart break too. The daughter of Aphrodite raced forward, unhindered by the storm, and pulled Jason's bloodied blond hair into her lap, whispering to him inaudibly. Then the wispy demons took form and attacked her too. Frank watched in horror as Piper drew her knife to resist, but failed and was kicked down to the deck beside her boyfriend, unconscious.

"Back off!" Leo roared, and Frank scampered away as he charged the demons, only to get blanketed by grey mist. By the time the storm cloud receded, Leo was unconscious and wet, not five feet from his friends.

Everything was falling apart. Frank looked to his right and saw that Coach Hedge was waving his club menacingly, but he didn't seem eager to engage. A glance to his left revealed a sickly looking Nico, who wielded his sword out of habit alone. That left Frank - clumsy, inept Frank - to fight a foe that couldn't be touched.

The ship was steady on its course now, the monsters apparently uninterested in launching the crew off their feet now that they had secured the vessel. Frank struggled to his feet as the grey mist began to take form into a jock-type teenage guy with hair that shined dark brown in the lightning flashes. The guy smiled, and his brilliant white teeth gave Frank a start. Who flossed that much, seriously?

"Oh, is there one last hero courageous enough to fight me?" His arrogance overflowed, giving Frank a wince. Guys like that, no matter what world or country you're from, always get the shortest stick. And there's usually a splinter, too.

"Yeah," Frank whimpered. Then he reclaimed his bravery and thrust out his chest. "I mean, yes. I'll fight you. And win, too."

The guy smirked, and the cloud condensed around him. He crossed his arms. "I'm Dylan, by the way. In case she wakes up asking." He jerked a thumb at Piper, and Frank felt a little confused at that, but he tried not let it show on his face. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Well, that's an epic fail.

Frank tried to appear comported and calm about the fact he was approaching a guy who would probably burst apart the first arrow Frank shot at him. Not that he had his bow handy - it was still slung over his shoulder, like the stupid son of Mars he was. He strode across the deck proudly, but then he slipped on a puddle and fell ungracefully.

Dylan laughed at him, and others of the cloud solidified to point and jeer at him. Frank slammed his face into the deck, tasting metal, and pushed himself onto his arms. Something about seeing them actively belittling him hurts - but in the same way it always. It didn't impede his character or tarnish his self-image. It pissed him off.

Hazel's words came back into his mind again: _I trust you more than anybody. _Hazel had really cared for Frank, seen him as a true hero - somebody to depend on. Never once had she laughed at him for being awkward, not harshly. He'd led a quest to Alaska, for Jupiter's sake! He was a son of Mars and descendant of Poseidon. He could fire a bow better than anybody else he knew. People _respected _him.

Who were these idiots for making fun of him?

He came to his feet and cracked his neck, a smile tugging on the corners of his lips. "Oh look!" Dylan cried, pointing at him and leaning on his friend for "support." "It's the guy who tripped on his own feet! I'm shaking in my boots!"

They roared with more laughter.

Frank took his bow off his shoulders and lifted it, stringing an arrow with ease. This was the one place he could never be awkward; when he had a bow, he was unstoppable. Frank drew back the string, and the storm/person demons looked taken aback. They gave ground, still solid.

Frank fired the arrow, straight into Dylan's heart.

Dylan looked confused. He stared down at his chest, eyebrows raised, and pulled the arrow from his sternum. His body rippled grey as he did so. Frank watched in morbid fascination as he broke Frank's arrow and turned his eyes back to Frank. Now _he _looked pissed.

"Kill him," he growled. And the storm struck.

Frank wasn't sure what happened, but the second he saw the cloud move at him, he shifted. Suddenly, his body was a million different parts, and the cloud couldn't touch a single one of them. Each separate part moved independently, coiled around in a constant spiral, periodically striking out. The cloud gave ground at Frank's assault, not so much hurt as confused. Where, just seconds ago, there had been this huge boy, now there was a swarm of bees. That had to give you a start.

The storm gave ground more and more, until finally, Frank stung Dylan in the eye.

Dylan roared with pain, holding his face and swatting at Frank. He dodged and struck again. And again. Dylan burst into a cloud again, but it was no use. Frank continued stinging him until he fled from the ship with his disembodied tail behind his legs, his entire legion of fellow storm-dudes behind him.

Frank wrestled with the transformation for a minute, finally collapsing onto the soaked deck, exhausted. Nico ran over to him and helped him lean on the side. "I've got to handle these three." Nico nodded at Leo, Jason, and Piper, who were still snoozing on deck. Although Piper looked to be stirring, her fingers twitching. "You wait here until I get you some ambrosia."

As he hurried toward the fallen demigods, he stopped and turned, pointing a fierce finger at Frank. "Don't think this changes anything about you dating Hazel. I still hate you for not checking with me first."

Frank smirked. "But does this mean I'm forgiven?" He couldn't keep the hopefulness out of his voice - to Hazel, Nico was her father. He needed his approval.

Nico seemed to consider it for a moment, and then he frowned. "Decision pending."

He dragged Piper belowdecks, leaving Frank to nurture his wounds in the now lingering calm _after _the storm.

**How'd I do on Frank? He's not my best, and there's more of him coming up, but I'm trying. Did you get the impression of a swarm of bees before I outright told you it? Please tell me how it read.**

**Thank you.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Fangirling time: The cover for The House of Hades was released last night! Yes! And it shows Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus - Percy carrying her with frothy stuff at their feet that is probably water, Pterodactyl-looking things (probably gryphons) flying above them, lava, and what almost seems like a in-Tartarus metropolis. Riordan seems to have envisioned Tartarus as the traditional Hell whereas I see it more as an endless, painful wasteland, but I can incorporate Riordan's cover art now. **

**I read the site that has now posted the cover, and it says this: "but, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth escape." Now, this may just be me forgetting the end of Mark of Athena (I don't actually have a copy of the book, so things can get annoying) but I don't recall Leo explicitly saying this at the conclusion. If he didn't, then this means one of two things: Leo voices his fears, which can work with his character, but not as well as the second option; he has a PoV again.**

**Now, permit me to fangirl: Yes! Riordan, I knew you had a brain! You're giving us a consecutive Leo PoV? I love you! I love you more than words can say, man. Thank you!**

**Okay, I'm breathing. Now, if someone reviews and tells me Leo did say this at the end of Mark of Athena, my hopes will be crushed. I'm sorry, I really like Nico's character, but I'm not sure if I can contend with Jason (*spits at ground*) Grace without having the wonder that is Leo Valdez to counteract it. **

**Never mind. I just died inside. Someone asked:**

**Question: please tell me Nico gets a POV in The House of Hades.**

**Answer: Already PLENTY of POVs, so no. But he has a big part.**

**Can someone kill me now? No, people, I'm not dumping Nico's PoV in here to compensate, but considering Riordan said "PLENTY" I'm guessing we're talking at least five or six, meaning the likelihood that Percy and Annabeth have PoVs just grew exponentially. Or at least one of them. And again, I fangirl about "I need Leo to be a PoV! Please! Pleasepleaseplease!"**

**And I have another question: Is Riordan giving all of the Seven PoVs in the final book? Because, let me just say, Holy Shit. That would be epic, and no one but Rick Riordan can pull that off.**

**Wow. I haven't even started writing the fifteenth chapter and I'm at 433 words. This deserves a round of applause.**

**Now, I'm assuming you all want me shut up and get to it, so I shall:**

* * *

_XV: FRANK_

It became rapidly apparent as Nico strained to drag the lifeless Piper down below that he wasn't having much luck. He pulled at her arms, face twisted like he was severely constipated, and sweat poured from his brow. His arms shook, and he might as well have been kneeling, he was crouched so low.

"Would you like some help?" Frank volunteered upon seeing his crew mate's/leader's distress.

Nico wiped the perspiration from his brow and glowered at Frank like he was a smelly pile of cow pies. "I'm fine," he snapped. "How about you get Jason or Leo? This one is a lightweight." Even as he disregarded Frank's offer, Nico sucked in a deep breath, hooked his arms under Piper's armpits, and continued trying to haul her across the wet deck.

Frank rolled his eyes and bent down, heaving Piper into his arms, bridal style. "Consider it my Good Samaritan act for the day," he told Nico and headed for the Meeting Room above decks.

There's a reason this place hasn't been mentioned previously in the narrative: It's useless. Utterly and completely useless, to such an extent that Frank could only think the reason for building it was Leo overestimated the amount of materials they'd need for building the Argo II and tossed what remained into a room while the purpose for it was like a model; stand there and look pretty. It was supposed to be the infirmary, but they usually used the couches and stuff in the Mess Hall for that, and as far as meeting, everyone was happier and more amiable to other opinions when there was a plate of food in front of them. So, effectively, it just stood there.

But considering Nico looked ready to drop, Frank wasn't far behind, and the three remaining crew members (Frank couldn't bring himself to call Coach Hedge an actual crewman) were unconscious, hauling them all to the normal infirmary was too difficult to even think about. So Frank kicked open the door and dumped Piper, gently, onto the nearest mattress, leaning against the wall and scoffing. "Okay," he said, glancing down at the daughter of Aphrodite, who turned over in her sleep. "I don't blame Nico now."

A second later, Hedge stormed in with Leo's feet dangling off the ground as he deposited him - not half as gentle as Frank did with Piper - on the mattress next to her. Frank tried to protest that when Jason came to, he wouldn't be impressed with the fact Leo and Piper were facing each other and murmuring restlessly, but he decided not to say anything and let Hedge catch the heat when it came.

Frank headed back out to get Jason, only to find the son of Jupiter staggering around with a gash over his right eye and a very perturbed look on his face.

Frank almost sought refuge back in the Meeting Room, but decided to stand his ground and calm Jason down before he chopped off his head with his gladius, still unsheathed and in hand. The blond settled his eyes on Frank and limped over, fuming. "What," he started venomously, the yet unceasing rainfall making him look somewhat downcast and harmless as he approached. Except for, you know, the lightning that seemed to pull toward him and flash in his blue eyes. "happened?"

Frank chewed his bottom lip and considered a slew worth of explanations, finally settling on, "We got rid of the storm-things."

"_Venti_," Jason spat, like it was the worst curse word he'd ever heard. Somehow, he managed to sound Italian when he did that. "Storm spirits. Leo calls them evil espresso drinks."

Frank blinked. "Okay?"

Jason shoved Frank aside and lumbered toward the Meeting Room, still angry as hell and emanating it like a meltdown at a nuclear power plant. Frank felt the overwhelming urge to scream "Mayday! Mayday!" but resisted it; that would only aggravate his praetor/not-praetor more.

"Where's Piper?" Jason called as he leaned against the doorframe. In the fluorescent lighting, Frank noticed a definite lack of color in Nico's and Jason's faces. He hoped it was just a trick of the light and not as bad a power drain as it looked.

"Hmm . . ." Piper droned, next curled up next to Leo.

Frank saw Jason's expression a second too late. "Piper, wake up," he barked, eyes wild with rage. The daughter of Aphrodite came to quickly, bolting upright and calling out in alarm, only to look down as Leo draped a dreamy arm over her leg, sighing in contentment. Piper scampered away, back to Jason, who scowled at his best friend, jealousy red-hot in his gaze.

Frank was caught between horror and laughter.

Piper blinked at Leo, who started to stir as well, and said, "We really need to get you a girlfriend."

Leo bolted upright, and Frank almost believed it was because he heard "girlfriend," but then he exclaimed, "Chinchillas!" and looked around in horror.

Frank couldn't really comprehend his ears. Leo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jason, still unhappy (that guy would probably spit the chill pill back in your face) and chuckled. "Hey man. We get 'em?"

Frank cut in for his share. "Yeah. Chased them back. I didn't do a lot of damage, but it scared them."

"You mean _we_," Hedge corrected, crossing his arms after collapsing onto the couch and setting his club at his feet.

Frank wanted so badly to tell Hedge off for once, but bit his tongue and ran his fingers through his lengthening hair. He frowned and resolved to take a razor to it sometime in the near future - preferably today. He didn't like having long hair.

Nico shot Hedge a dark look that Frank couldn't read. It was either grim annoyance or unadulterated contempt, but whichever it was, it sent a chill down his spine. Nico did that sometimes, but now it was even worse. Now Frank had to question everything Nico did, if it was logical, emotional, or suicidal. So far, nothing suicidal had occurred, but Frank wasn't placing bets just yet.

Leo's stomach growled and distracted Frank from his thoughts. "Oh man," he murmured. "I thought those Doritos would cut it."

"Well . . ." Piper drawled with a smile on her face. "I'm a little starved myself. Maybe you could make some of those tofu tacos?"

Leo clapped his hands together and leaped to his feet, a mockingly evil laugh echoing through the room. "I knew you'd be corrupted by my amazing cooking sooner or later. Prepare to be killed with deliciousness!" He struck a Superman pose and ran off belowdecks.

Frank watched him go with an eyebrow arched. "Wasn't he all 'the world hates me' a few minutes ago?"

Piper looked over at him, a grim smile on her face as she squeezed Jason's hand and looked up at him. They shared a brief kiss before Jason headed off to the Mess Hall, closely followed by Coach Hedge and a wary-looking Nico, who eyed Frank and Piper like they were conspiring behind his back. Frank gave his girlfriend's brother a friendly wave, which Nico did not return. With a darkening air to him, he stormed out of the Meeting Room like Piper and Frank had some contagious disease, and slammed the door behind him with the same attitude.

"Yikes," Piper breathed, stepping back from the loud _bang _the door made when it shut. "What's his problem?" She looked over at Frank, and he must have had a weird expression on his face, because she said, "Are you okay?"

"What?" Frank started, glancing over at her. He hadn't realize he'd been staring at the door. "Yeah. It's just . . . the stress building up, you know? Everything is happening so quickly . . ."

Piper nodded and intertwined her fingers with Frank's. "We'll find her, Frank. I promise. We always do."

Frank wasn't sure which was more alarming; the fact Piper was holding his hand or that she knew before he did why he was zoning out. He gaped at they're interlaced fingers, blinking. "Er . . . wouldn't Jason be jealous?"

Piper smirked and reclaimed her hand. "Not normally. He gets a little temperamental after a fight, both for his friends and for me." Piper rubbed the back of her neck, playing with the one-beaded necklace around it. "I've heard Percy does the same thing."

Frank nodded. "Yeah. You've never seen him mad, have you?" Piper shook her head and Frank laughed. "Neither have I. But Annabeth told me once he's scary when he's angry."

Piper walked over to the bed she'd been lying on a second before and sat down. "That's one thing I never want the privilege of: seeing Percy and Jason angry. I mean, I saw them when they were being influenced by the eidola, but never - "

"Yeah," Frank cut her off, laughing lightheartedly. "Let's not think about it, okay? Especially with Percy and Annabeth . . ." There seemed to be a lot of trailing off in their conversation, Frank realized. He was at least half of it. "So, what's with Leo?"

"Huh?" Piper began, startled, and then she shook her head and chuckled. "Right. I guess I wanted to talk to you 'cuz you're the first person I've seen Leo get mad at."

Frank really didn't know what to make of that one. "Wait, what? I mean, he's gotten mad before, hasn't he? And why do we talking about what everyone's like when they're mad. And why do I keep saying mad?" The last was a rhetorical question, but Piper didn't seem to care.

She leaned forward, grinning, and said, "Because you're not as bereft of ADHD as you thought. And because we're going to be seeing a lot more of angry everybody if they don't talk stuff out." Piper glanced off at the ceiling. "I mean, you and Nico made a pretty good show back there."

Frank stared at the ground in guilt. "Oh. Look, I'm really sorry about that. With Hazel . . ."

"Right." Piper stood up. "I get it, Frank. I'd go crazy if Jason went missing and I had to wonder if he was dead or alive all the time." Frank felt his heart plummet, and his face must have showed it. Piper clucked like a mother hen and pulled Frank into a hug. "She's alright, Frank. I can feel it." Piper pulled away, still smiling. "And I'm good at stuff like this. Aphrodite instinct, you know."

Frank frowned, feeling less than awkward about the hug. "Why do you do this stuff?"

"What stuff?" Piper asked, returning to her prior seat.

"Comforting people stuff. Hazel did it too, and Percy, but I suck at it. Somehow, I just make people feel worse."

Piper glanced up at him. "Well, if you want some advice, you know what people tell you about letting them talk it out? Works about thirty percent of the time, but most of them don't. Demigods, at least. We've got our own breed of problems, and I don't blame them for wanting to keep it to themselves." A shadow crossed over her face. "And there are places you don't go unless you're desperate. Leo's mom is one of those."

Frank faltered halfway to the chair across from her. "You've talked to him about that?"

Piper nodded grimly. "H-he hates talking about it, and I don't blame him. I mean, Leo didn't kill her, but for the rest of the world, he did. And he loved his mom. I can tell. I just wish . . ."

"What?" Frank asked, intrigued by the way Piper glanced off to the side.

Piper sighed. "I don't know. I wish he'd gotten time to move on. He was shipped to a foster home, like, a month later and ran away a week after that. Something about them having a mean rottweiler."

Frank wondered to himself if the rottweiler had been a hellhound, but said nothing.

"Anyway, he just had to keep moving. That's what he told me, the one time he actually talked about it. When he building the Argo II. For about a sentence. Then he cracked some joke about demented demon dogs and wouldn't tell me anything else." Piper sounded annoyed about it.

Frank's earlier revelation shot back to mind. "Hey, have you ever noticed how he always jokes the most when bad stuff is happening? Like he's hiding behind it or something freaky psychological like that?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Frank, I can't believe you're the first person to notice." She looked away for a second. "Okay, so Jason probably did too, but everyone thinks it's taboo. It's like everyone is afraid to say something to him in case he blows up. Or they blow him off." Piper's eyes darkened and her eye twitched. "Those are the worst. And they only hurt Leo, like he'd ever say it out loud."

Frank gaped at her. "You should open up a business. You're too good at figuring people out." He stopped. "I'm guessing you're not just talking to me to rant. Do you have some sort of plan?"

Piper grinned, and it was somewhere between pleasant and knowingly creepy. "Worthy of Athena," she assured him, and launched into the debriefing.

* * *

Frank and Piper entered the Mess Hall together, but by then, everyone had stuffed themselves with tacos.

"Yo!" Leo greeted from his place at the head of the table. "Welcome to Taco Kingdom. Have a seat and enjoy the wonder that is my cooking."

Frank felt doubtful, but Piper elbowed him and said, "Not now. Leo's tacos are phenomenal. You will not cheat me out of that." She jogged to her seat beside Jason and immediately dug in, whatever Aphrodite-sensibilities she might have had forgotten the minute she bit into the Mexican cuisine.

Frank figured if Piper lost her cool over the food, he should at least give it a shot. And he did, sitting down at the far right like he usually did and trying the dark meat and what looked like green pepper meal. He made a dying noise in his throat. "My gods!" he cried, mouth still full. "Leo, you made this?"

Leo beamed and brought his fist down on his chest proudly. "This is why you would all die without me. My tacos bring peace to warring kingdoms."

Frank couldn't even get annoyed at the stupidity of his jokes. He ate a good five of Leo's tacos, but Piper beat him with six. By the end of it, they were both ungodly full, to the point of pain.

"Oh man," Frank droned. "I knew I should have stopped at four."

Leo burst out laughing, clapping his hand together. "My plan for world domination is complete! And now, as you all sleep tonight, I will slip away and leave the world in ruin! Mwahahaha!"

Frank groaned and buried his face in pieces of taco meat and vegetable. Suddenly, Piper asked a question. "Wait a minute, where's Nico?"

Jason shrugged. "Said he had something to handle for closing the Doors of Death. An idea. I don't know what he was talking about."

Frank peaked from his pillow-plate. "When's he coming back?"

Leo snorted as a piece of meat fell into Frank's mouth. He ate it gratefully. "Didn't say. Before tomorrow morning was all he gave us. Then he did that weird de-bodying-into-shadows thing and left."

Frank shuddered. He'd seen Nico shadow-travel once, and it still gave him the creeps.

He started standing up when the Mess Hall door banged open with the same fever Nico had closed the Meeting Room, and the son of Hades appeared framed in the doorway, panting and scraped up and wearing a now black T-shirt. His sword was in hand, and there was a wildness to his eyes that Frank had _never _seen before. Like a cornered wolf.

"I found him," Nico announced, gasping and staggering inside. Trailing behind him, munching nosily on a tin can, was another faun.

But Frank knew the second he saw the curly-haired half-goat that he was Don's counterpart. He was young, around Frank's age, and his horns were fully developed, but he looked woozy and weak. He limped in awkwardly, and he wore a Camp Half-Blood tee. That was probably the biggest clue. But no, what got to Frank was how centered he seemed - uncertain, but certain of his own capabilities. The fauns at Camp Jupiter weren't like that; they sought to please so they could beg for food and money. They were always acting out to get attention and sympathy or annoyance. Hazel believed that was wrong, and Percy was disgusted by it, Frank could tell when they told him. And seeing this guy, not a mouthy old guy like Coach Hedge, he started to feel the same.

Rome had been underestimating them.

There was a bunch of hollow weeds strapped together around his neck, and Frank recognized it as reed pipes, like the ones in the pictures of the nature god, Faunus. This satyr had a similar look to him, too; not the lively and jovial air, but more of the powerful one. Like this guy packed a serious punch, he just didn't know. The room temperature leveled out to something akin to a pleasant summer's evening when he walked in, and plants might have blown at his feet too.

Frank seriously believed satyrs were underestimated now. This guy felt more powerful than Percy did in full-blown tsunami mode.

Nico collapsed into a chair. "Guys, this is Grover Underwood. He's Lord of the Wild. He also found Pan and has some weird two-way telepathy thing with Percy called an empathy link. I figured we could use it to our advan - "

That's when Grover interrupted him and bleated in Jason's face, demanding, "What happened to Percy?"

He looked mad.

**Okay, so I thought about tagging on a PoV to this, but I'm going to let you guys vote. One of them would be immensely challenging for me, and the other would give me breathing room. No, they're not Percy or Annabeth, relax. **

**Actually, it's Leo or Grover.**

**Grover would be good for clarity, and Leo would give more of a comic air to what is a darkening piece. This one was lighter, which I'm happier about. I'll try to formulate future chapters like this. I think this was more in character for everyone, anyway. **

**So, Leo Vs. Grover.**

**I realize you guys are probably a little ticked - I left Hazel in a very precarious position in her last chapter and am now going through four PoVs, which amounts to sixteen chapters, before I get back to her. I'm thinking about cutting down the chapters per character to two. Another thing you guys can vote. Frank will get his last chapter because I have it planned accordingly. Mind you, things will evolve a little differently with two chapters per like in Lost Hero. Things will move faster, and there will be more jam-packed into each chapter, meaning slower updates. In the end, it is up to you: My sole work is my novel, which you guys have no influence over. **

**You can expect it in stores around the summer of next year or the year after, if things go my way. I'm on the final legs of it, and I hope to get it published shortly. It might be an unreasonable belief, but hey.**

**The Jewel of Dimensions, by Alice Rune.**

**If you guys really like my writing, my original works are a good ten times better because I give some serious concerted effort, something I don't spare fanfiction. There is also a series plan for that book, and if the publisher will take it, Dimensional Interruption is the follow-up. It's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy with a lot of influence from unproven physics theories on multiple dimensions. If you're into that type of thing, do check it out. You know, when I'm published. I'll probably tell you guys when I am.**

**So, end of my bolded rant. So, vote and keep your eyes open at the bookstore. Out.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Alright, so I know I really nag you about reviews all the time, but I'm going to describe to you the varieties of reviews that exist and which ones will not be appreciated:**

**Unadulterated praise: It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it is generally useless. "This is the best fic I've ever read!" might be a wonderful compliment, and one that is seriously appreciated, but a better one would be "The way you narrate the events and characterize the Seven really makes it feel more real than it actually is." This leads me into my second category.**

**Descriptive praise: This is helpful, and I love you for it because so few actually take the time to do this. In the aforementioned "better" example, you are telling me what makes it a good fic. The same principles that go into good writing go into good reviewing: Show, don't tell. A particular exchange that struck you as really good would be nice to mention. Tell me why you want to keep reading.**

**Bitter raving: These are otherwise called "flames." Now, some people perceive them in a wider spectrum than I do, but for me the definition is simple: Useless insults. "My god, this story sucks." is such an example. I was given one on my M-rated story that effectively condemned me for _not _being sexually perverse and bloodthirsty. These will only get you ridicule, typically by pin-pointing the atrocious grammar you utilized while telling me I can't write for shit. I'm merely reiterating what has already been said to me.**

**Constructive Criticism: This gets you a great big hug. Telling me without trying to degrade me that my writing could need work, here, here, and here makes my life so much better. It really gives me something to strive toward and makes me more motivated to update. And, just as an aside - if you notice a recurring generic problem in my writing, i.e. inconsistencies in plot, then please do point it out. I need to know these problems for my original fiction so I can actually get it out to you guys.**

**Wannabe Writers: This is one that disguises itself as constructive criticism but is actually its antithesis; you're not telling me what you think could be touched up and giving me examples on how to go about it, you're outright telling me how to write my plot. I am going to tell you guys in good confidence that I have a clear plot arch in my head, and it will play out in the most logical way I can think of. Asking me to change that is less than unacceptable, it makes the flames look nice. You're telling me that I am not fit to think of my own ideas, and therefore you feel it is your Good Samaritan duty to take the reigns from me. These reviews will be met with scathing remarks, because my tolerance of them has worn thinner than a teaspoon of butter on a mile of breath - I am done. And if you persist in "teaching" me how to write, I will ask you to stop reading my fic. And it will not be a nice way to do it. **

**This site is immensely helpful to me, and all three categories except the last are permitted. Some will get eyes rolled at and some will get as good as the give, but go ahead and keep sending them. But I will not tolerate the last anymore. Unless I am conflicting with a rule on this site I am not aware of, you have no right to trespass me like that. That is the equivalent of rewriting Einstein's theorems because you don't like how they look. If you want something done differently, go do it yourself and leave me _alone_.**

**Alright, if I offended one of you, the chances are you are a member of the last category. If that's the case, do both of us a favor and stop reading now.**

**For the rest of you honest reviewers, I really do appreciate the fact that you keep reading through my bad and good chapters. I'd love to name you all, but there's too many and I don't know your usernames by heart. But it's most of you. **

**However, if you see a problem with a character and how they're portrayed, that's different. I've already gotten someone who PM'ed me how they viewed Nico di Angelo, and it was extremely helpful. That isn't rewriting my story or telling me what to do when. That's helping me capture the actual individuals as they are, and it is immensely appreciated.**

**I'm also working on a dedication fanfiction to Kaitie85386 that is legitimately taking the cliched "Everybody goes to Goode" story and turning it on its head. Everyone says this, but I'm telling the truth.**

**Synopsis: Percy has made it to his final year of high school, but that's still eight-hours a day when he has to fight sneering bullies who think they can beat him in a fight, teachers who think he comes from aliens just to wreak havoc on their classrooms, and acne _right _before Senior Pictures. But things take a serious turn for the worse when Annabeth Chase arrives, bailing Percy out of a legal jam, only to reveal that she doesn't know him and calls herself Amelia Carsteen. Oh, and did you think that was the worst of it? Her jock boyfriend, "Jeffery Gasten" is actually Jason Grace and they have an equally passionate relationship as Percy had with Annabeth. And now, apparently there's a creeper around school who keeps asking about him. Some kid named Alabaster . . .**

**I'm going to post it in a little bit, once I write Chapter Five. It should be pretty short, so Chapter Five will be mostly finished. Kaitie wanted a well-written story like that, and I felt the urge to challenge the cliche. Anyway, I'm going to actually start writing now.**

* * *

_XVI: FRANK_

Frank turned to Nico in alarm, and the son of Hades winced at Grover's outburst. The satyr looked to be in actual pain, as though his little, scrawny legs were in agony. He held onto the back of Jason's chair with his face screwed up in anguish, and Frank had never seen someone look so grief-stricken, not even in the mirror the night he found out his mother died.

Jason stood slowly, hands up as though placating the satyr. There was fear reflecting in his blue irises, and Frank wondered if Jason knew this satyr. "Hey," he greeted, outstretching his hand toward Grover cautiously. "I'm Jason. Percy and Annabeth are in serious trouble right now, and we're trying to get them out."

Grover cried out, his legs buckling. Piper tried to help him, but Nico shook his head firmly. "Don't," he ordered, hands held out to stop anyone from getting too close. "It hurts for him, but if you get in his face, he might freak out."

"About what?" Piper demanded, eyes watering with sympathy for the estranged goat-man. Frank felt momentarily stupefied - who was this guy and why was he in such pain? And why couldn't they help him? "Can't be give him ambrosia or something?"

"Ambrosia doesn't work on satyrs," Hedge interrupted gruffly, materializing from the hall. Frank startled - he did that whenever Hedge magically appeared or made his presence known. Overtime, he'd obviously learned how little the crew appreciated his contributions. But apparently, judging by the way he carried himself and the lack of bravado to it, he knew what he was talking about and hated it. Frank listened. "and even if it did," Coach Hedge continued, limping over to Grover and offering him a tin can. The "Lord of the Wild" - whatever that meant - didn't seem to notice the gift and Hedge set it down in front of him. "it wouldn't work because this is mental pain. It's an empathy link that he shares with the kid, Percy."

"Empathy link?" Piper echoed, turning to Nico, who braced himself on the table with his palms. "That's what you were talking about, right? You said something about him being able to help Percy."

Nico nodded despairingly, watching Grover's writhing form with what could have been construed as tears gathering in his eyes. "I saw Percy communicate telepathically with him once, and he doesn't understand how it works. I thought . . ."

"You thought we could use the link to tell Percy where to meet us," Frank finished with a bit of awe. That was some serious magic, and even if Frank didn't understand how it worked, it was pretty cool.

Then again, judging by the look on Grover's face, it could be a lot cooler.

Jason still stood there with his arm outstretched, horrified at the screaming satyr. Grover started trying to articulate something, but it was lost in the wave of pain he was experiencing. Jason bent down and awkwardly patted Grover's back, like he was trying to help him, but Grover wailed and scampered away into the corner, sliding down the wall. His screams weren't human or goatlike - they were awash with pain and grief and sorrow and a million other pessimistic emotions Frank didn't want to name.

The entire room was silent save for Grover's cries, and they waited with reluctant patience for the episode - or whatever it was - to subside.

Finally, Grover sagged to the ground, unconscious.

Piper was sobbing by that point, covering her open mouth with her hands and burying her face in Jason's shoulder to keep from looking at Grover's pain. Frank glanced over at her the same time Jason did, apparently recovered from his shock. He stroked her hair, shushing her.

Nico sighed, watching Grover's slumbering form, and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry about this . . . G-man." Something gave Frank the impression that nickname meant something more to Nico than he was saying.

Hedge grimaced and made sympathetic noises throughout the ordeal, but now he walked over, picked Grover up into his arms bridal style, and laid him on the bed. Now that he wasn't screaming hysterically, the satyr looked sort of happy and content, digging farther into his place on the couch and snoring. Every now and again, he bleat like something interested him, but then he'd drift off into rumbling slumber.

Frank leaned on the table, bewildered by the rapid fire events that had just unraveled: Nico left but brought back an hysterical satyr who was the Lord of the Wild and shared some sort of empathy link with Percy. The satyr came unglued and now he was sleeping while everyone tried to comprehend what just happened in the span of maybe five minutes.

Frank's eyes explored the room and he noticed something alarming. Leo wasn't there.

He blinked and re-scanned his surroundings, even walking over to a few corners and checking in the shadows. But sure enough, there was no curly-haired mechanic lurking in the dark; he'd left the Mess Hall and gone . . . somewhere else.

"Hey, guys," Frank said, breaking the silence around the room and turning to Piper and Jason. They turned to look on him. "Do any of you know where Leo went?"

For a moment, everyone stared at Frank. Then Jason laughed and said, "What are you talking about? He's right th - Oh gods, where did Leo go?"

There was a moment of quiet comprehension among the crew. Piper glanced around, brow furrowed and face streaked with her tears, blinking as though just realizing something. Nico perked up from leaning against the table and focusing his eyes on the tabletop, scouring the room for a face that wasn't present. Jason turned with Piper, as he was holding her, but had a more collected expression about the apparent vacancy than she did.

"Oh gods," Piper breathed, covering her mouth again. "No. He must have slipped out when Grover . . . Jason, what if someone took him? What if someone took him and we didn't know? We could have helped him, and - "

"Shush," Jason consoled, pulling her against his chest and rolling his eyes toward Frank. He mouthed "overreaction" and patted his girlfriend on the back. But even with the flippant behavior, Frank got the impression Jason was equally as worried as Piper; they'd lost three of their crew mates, acquired a moody son of Death and a raving mad satyr, and now Leo inexplicably vanished?

Frank picked his bow up from the corner and examined it. He hadn't had the opportunity earlier; or, more accurately, he hadn't thought to do it before just then. It was wet, but it was made of some sort of strange wood that was completely resilient, unlike his childhood weapon. Frank had tripped and fallen with it before, but never once had it broken. That was always something to be grateful for.

Nico looked back to Grover, eyes shining with regret. "I'll find him," he announced. "Call me over the intercom when Grover wakes up." He pushed off of the tabletop and headed for the door, grabbing his fallen sword and sheathing it on his way.

Frank wondered how Nico could go from breathless and vulnerable to cool and commanding in mere seconds, as though the defenselessness had never been a part of him. He strode to the Hall with long strides, chest out and chin high.

Only as he reached the threshold did something occur to Frank. "Uh . . . I don't know how to work the intercom."

He looked at Jason and Piper, but both of them shrugged. Jason scoffed. "I don't even know where it is."

Nico paused, leaning against the wall and holding his temples. "Unless Valdez is an over-complicated, which I doubt, there'll a switch or something in the pilot's bay. Probably a speaker too. If you can't find it, I guess . . . Just tell Grover I'll be back in a few minutes. And for Zeus' sake, get him some food!"

With that, Nico slammed the door behind him.

Frank sagged into a chair, depositing the bow on the table in front of him and burying his face in his hands. He worked some of the water droplets out of his hair, sighing and watching the rising and falling of Grover's chest. "What happened to him?"

"Easy," Hedge began, and Frank found himself un-surprised that he was answering for once. "Whatever the kid is going through down there, it's strong enough to breach the walls of Tartarus and channel the empathy link. Knowing Jackson, he probably doesn't even know he's doing it. It's a subconscious cry for help."

"Would it be exaggerated?" Piper asked suddenly, detaching from Jason enough to confront the old satyr. Their fingers were still intertwined, though.

Hedge looked at her, and honest compassion came to light in his eyes as he rested on a hand on her shoulder. "No. It would be muted by the distance."

Piper looked as though Hedge had struck as opposed to spoken patiently to her. Frank felt the same way. So if Grover was in that much constant pain, and it was less than what Percy was going through . . . How bad was Tartarus?

Instantly, images from Dante's Inferno filled his head. Screaming souls being burned alive as they were whipped by demons. But Frank knew better - that was the interpretation from his strictly Catholic uncle who didn't know anything about Greco-Roman mythology. The definition of Hell back then was very different from now.

Or so he hoped.

"Does anyone know what's actually _in _Tartarus?" Frank asked, looking up at the others. "I mean, I know monsters, but what else? I mean, we fight monsters every day here. So what makes it so different down there?"

"For one," Nico called from the archway as he dragged Leo inside. The son of Hephaestus was even more soaked by oil than Frank remembered seeing him any time before - his hands were covered, his face was smeared black, and his shirt was never going to wash out properly. Frank gaped at him, but then Nico continued talking. "Up here, you and I have options on how we fight them. We could run away, use our demigod powers, run circles around them. Most of the time, we outsmart the monsters when we're on the surface. But in Tartarus, they've got the home field advantage. Tartarus is always shifting around, so you can't map it out, but the monsters feel where everything is. They could herd you into lava if they wanted to."

Nico unfastened his sword from his belt and dropped it on the seat, burying his face in his hands. His voice wasn't as collected as it was usually - it caught in places, and it was stained with tears and pain. Like he was remembering. "And it's not just monsters. You don't have any of your powers down there, and they take away your weapons pretty fast. I went down in armor with three knives and a gun. I came out with nothing but my sword, and that was only because I'd have lost a limb before I lost that." Nico's eyes overshadowed, and Frank felt compelled to say something to console him, but nothing came to mind. "There are immortals there, too. Enemies of the gods. A lot of them are bitter because of Kronos, and know . . . a lot of them know who fought in the Titan War."

Before Nico could continue, Grover gave a long, drawn-out bleat, kicking his foot like dog who was getting scratched behind the ear. He bolted upright, arms flailing around as he tried to stop himself from falling off the couch. When he steadied, himself, he glanced around the room, blinking.

"Okay," he breathed, rising to his feet. "I know I freaked out a little, but can somebody _actually _tell me what's going on? I won't freak out again, I promise."

The Seven looked between one another. Frank pursed his lips, and he flashed back to watching Percy and Annabeth fall into that pit. Gone. And now, what they knew about what was down there . . . Did Grover really want to know the truth too? What if it was too much for him? Heroes were a different breed entirely. Fauns at Camp Jupiter might try and relate and fight, but they couldn't. It fell to the demigods for everything.

Before he could convince Grover he didn't want to know, Nico stood up and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Grover, Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus while we were in Rome. We tried to save them, but there was nothing we could do. The gravity was too much. Percy had to let go."

Grover stared him for an uncomprehending moment, face twisted in confusion and denial. He looked at each of the crew, and Frank waited for his reaction. He'd expected disbelief and horror, maybe even some sympathy, but he hadn't expected what happened.

Grover fell back onto the couch, sobbing into his hands. Nico held everyone back when Piper tried to rush forward to comfort him, shaking his head. Frank looked at Nico and breathed "Another empathy thing?"

Nico shook his head.

Between sobs, Grover choked out, "He's really scared." Everyone waited for Grover to continue. "He's scared and he feels guilty and he's grieving." Grover looked up, looking horrified and like the world had dropped on top of him.

Frank felt himself piecing it together before Grover spoke, and he didn't want to hear. He couldn't hear. He wouldn't hear. It wasn't possible. There was no way.

"I think Annabeth's dead."


	17. Chapter 17

_XVII: LEO_

Leo was positive he'd maxed out the suck-o-meter when Nico caught him tinkering with wires down in the engine room and went from, "Oh, he's doing repairs" to "You little _beeep_! You treacherous slimeball!" and started raging around the very delicate machinery while waving his sword around in a frightening shadow-show. Leo pissed his pants a good fifteen times before he threw up his hands and let Nico drag him, still raging son of Hades, out of the engine room and back into the Mess Hall, even though Leo _so _wasn't finished re-calibrating, a fact Nico conveniently chose to ignore.

Seriously, Nico could be downright pregnant-woman-level _moody _when he wanted to be, not that Leo would ever say that aloud.

Getting deposited like a sack of potatoes on the ground was not Leo's idea of fun, but he caught himself before he face planted and scampered away from the suddenly mellow pale dude with a scary sword. And then Nico started talking about Tartarus, and Leo felt like a horrible person for thinking scathing remarks toward the mentally scarred kid.

Of course, any other thoughts were forgotten when Grover started panicking and dropped the D-bomb.

Leo was used to death by now - on the streets, it was nothing new. He'd lost track of the number of times he had been shifting through week-old garbage and found some rotten dead body nestled in the leftover lettuce. And although he had never seen her _body, _just her coffin, he was at his mother's funeral. In his third foster family, the cat lady/happily-married-woman who called herself his mother brought him to visit a now _very _lifeless grandpa in the hospital.

So, in other words, he got that people died and messing around with grieving for them was not conducive to living long lives, especially as a demigod.

But hearing Annabeth's name used in the same sentence as "dead" sent an unexpected jolt there him. Leo never cried - the last time he remembered letting one tear fall was when he found out he'd killed his own mother. He knew people still did it, but he was a dude and dudes just didn't cry; it wasn't macho. So feeling the wetness gather under his eyes was a little much for Leo.

Leo had this technique that he mastered through years of blowing off non-productive emotions. Desperation and fear worked pretty well, so he just disguised it with humor. Amusement was great, because Leo knew first and foremost rule of survival was laughing while you had the air to do it. But grief and guilt? That's when he went into overdrive, and he knew it. His ADHD skyrocketed to unrivaled heights, and he got more than a little crazy. He figured, if there was a mirror, it would have seen a wide-eyed, horrified scrawny son of Hephaestus with oil streaked across his face and wild hair.

Shock was not a part of Leo's life; most people experienced it when something traumatic happened, but Leo couldn't afford to let his guard down. Especially not on a quest. So he heard Piper crumple to her knees, heartbroken sobs filling the room as her boyfriend, who just seconds before held her, stood there with his arms wrapped around a body who wasn't there and gaped at Grover. The crash that resounded from Frank breaking the chair when he collapsed on it echoed through Leo's ears like an atomic blast. Hedge's tin can made hollow metal sounds when he dropped it, half-eaten, to the ground. Nico made no noise at all, just stood there momentarily dumbfounded and sympathetic. He looked around the room, just like Leo was doing.

Unfortunately, unlike Leo, he wasn't cracking stupid, misplaced jokes. "Come _on, _peeps, this is the _Annabeth _we're talking about. I'll bet you this bad boy you're sitting in that it's just a fake-out. She's probably pranking the monsters or something. Playing possum, ya know? She's _fine. _Stop crying!" That last came out frantic and directed at Piper, who wailed shamelessly from the floor. If she kept it up, Leo was going to start blubbering like a baby. "_She's fine! _Relax, Beauty Queen. Everything'll be peachy, just watch."

Then the fist connected with the side of Leo's face.

He fell to the tile in a heap, nursing his wounded cheek, and looked up through tear-stained vision as Jason straightened over him. The praetor of Rome looked terrifying in the fluorescent lighting, proud and madder than Hades on a bad hair day. Leo's arms flailed out and he knocked china from the table as he went, toppling chairs on top of him. But Jason made no move to help him from his injured refuge beneath furniture.

"Grow up, Leo," Jason hissed dangerously. "This is not a foster home anymore. This is war. And people die in war - good people - and when it's the person you've fought and died with for weeks on end, you get time to grieve. Not make fun of them and laugh when everyone is trying to cope. If you can't control yourself, get out."

And Leo stopped being scared.

He shoved off the furniture and rose to confront Jason, humor forgotten. Piper's cries faded out and Leo was very aware of the entire room watching him. He was warm all of the sudden, and Jason took a fearful step back. "I told you once this was my ship," Leo growled. "and I'm telling you again. I can do whatever the Hades I want. I built it. I made it. _This _is my baby. And we can spend time grieving later; you of all people know we don't have time now. We've got three days, and we've got to start moving." Jason blinked at him, anger turning to admiration. "And, for the record, I really do think Annabeth didn't die."

"She was killed," Nico confirmed, looking around the room. Leo's heart plummeted. "but in Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth are like monsters. They can't _die. _Hades can't go into the Underworld to collect dead souls like everyone else - until recently, he didn't _have _to. Tartarus is the point-of-no-return for immortals. It doesn't matter how many times you're killed down there, you will keep waking up."

Piper struggled to her feet, eyes crusty from crying. Frank helped her up before Jason could. "What about when they get out?"

Nico shrugged. "I'm here, aren't I?" Needless to say, that came as a serious shock to Leo. The son of death died? Isn't that supposed to be morbidly ironic or something? "Knowing Percy, he'll pour nectar on her. Whatever got her, it'll be healed pretty soon. And, guys, if they managed to go _this _long without dying, I can bet you everything I own that they'll get out pretty intact."

"Relief," Grover said unexpectedly. He surged to his feet, and everyone turned to look at him. "Percy's relieved."

Piper sighed in relief and, even though she'd only known the satyr for fifteen minutes, gave him a massive hug. Frank clapped Grover on the back, but before the bulky bowman could refuse, Piper looped an arm around him and pulled him in on the hug too. "Aww," Leo drawled, the moments of stress pooling from his shoulders. He held out his arms and tackled the three-person messing, and he felt Jason squeeze his shoulder in apology before reaching in to include himself in the giant, fleshy ball of people.

Nico and Hedge abstained.

"Valdez did have a point, however," Nico pointed out. Leo strained to turn and see Nico with his arms crossed and face cold, as though saying Leo's name was like poison for him. "We need to plan. We don't have enough time to play this completely by ear."

Jason pulled away from the pile, and Leo did too. Jason walked over to the table, resetting the chairs that Leo knocked over. "And you have ideas?" Leo couldn't tell if Jason's tone was conversational or venomous.

Nico pulled up a seat and sat down. "Prioritize. If we can make the engine run faster - "

"I _just _did that," Leo interrupted, pulling a muffin from the middle of the table, feeling smug.

Nico glowered at him. "You _what_?"

Leo beamed at him, totally milking the moment as he flopped down at the foot of the table and kicked his feet up, yawning expressively. "Yeah. You know, when you tried to cut off my head and nearly sent us smoking out of the sky with that weirdo sword of yours? Yep. I was one step ahead of you."

Nico glared at him, tapping the table angrily, the tempo building a little every second. "And you couldn't have just _told _me that?"

"I tried," Leo shrugged. "You were too busy screaming at me to listen."

Nico threw a plate at him, which Leo ducked. It smashed against the wall, causing Piper to swat Nico's hand furiously and groan, throwing her hands up. "Boys!" she scoffed, seating herself as well. "Grover, go ahead and have a seat." Leo scowled at the tone shift from angry chastisement to sweet hospitality.

Nico sulked in his chair, apparently opposed to having his etiquette corrected.

Jason lowered himself next to Piper and draped an arm over her chair. Leo wasted no time making gagging motions across the table. "So," Frank stalled, looking around at everyone. "We're prioritizing."

"Wow, Frank," Leo cried in mock surprise. "You have ears?"

Frank looked like _he _was going to turn into a flying squirrel and throw himself at Leo from across the table.

Piper gave Frank a sharp look - holy crap, Leo thought. It's not me today? - and redirected her attention to the table as a whole. "Well, I think the best thing to do is make absolutely certain what we _have _to do and then sift out the things that can wait." Everyone was a little quiet at her interjection. "What?" Piper bristled.

"Nothing," Grover shrugged. "You just made them feel stupid because it was an obvious answer and they hadn't thought of it."

"I miss Annabeth," Piper said unexpectedly. Everyone gaped at her. "Again, what? It was nice having another girl on this ship. Now, the moment a bra turns up in the washing machine, there isn't going to be any speculation."

"There wasn't from Percy, anyway," Nico said quietly.

Everyone blinked at him.

"Okay, now I feel like Piper." Nico threw his hands up. "What? I mean, Hazel couldn't exactly bring all her stuff on board, and Percy knows Annabeth's clothes."

More gaping.

"I assumed!" Nico defended. "Jeez, can we return to the matter at hand?" Awkward silence and more staring at Nico and Piper in disbelief, because, A, Nico was still a little kid and how did he know about this stuff. And B, Piper was just scaring the entire ship with her feminine hygiene talk.

Leo blinked at Nico, smirking. The son of Hades looked concerned. "Dear gods, what is with the lewd grin?"

Leo automatically blanched. "Wha - ? What is wrong with you? Have you even _gotten _The Talk?"

Nico turned bright red. "My step-mother," he said quietly. "Not a fun day . . ."

Grover roared with laughter from across the table, snorting uncontrollably and periodically stifling the laughter when Nico gave me a cold glare. But the chortles boiled over anyway, and he kept laughing hysterically.

Leo eyed the two of them curiously, about to prod Nico about it, but one look from the son of Hades silenced him. Apparently, Persephone was _not _all flowers and sunshine like her goddess-hood or whatever suggested.

"What were we talking about again?" Jason asked, covering up his own laughter as Nico shot dark looks at everyone sitting around the table. Apparently, Jason understood something Leo didn't, because hearing about Nico's step-mother seriously cracked him up. "The first thing I remember was Piper's bras."

Piper swatted him. "Pervert!"

"You brought it up!" Leo cried in defense of his friend, who was getting pummeled by a napkin, Piper viciously trying to brain him with fabric. She kept calling him dirty-minded and the like, sending the whole table into fits of laughter while they fought to stay remotely sane, even though the bickering couple was fantastic to watch.

Piper huffed, crossing her arms as Jason sat next to her, mouth open in confusion. "Uh . . ." he began. "Can we talk about this later?"

"We're done talking about this."

Jason's eyes turned a little frantic, but then Piper smirked and he sighed in relief. "Stop teasing me," he ordered, but he was laughing to.

"Tangents aside," Nico said suddenly, shaking his head. "The number two things are: A, stopping Athena and Poseidon from destroying Olympus in a hussy fit, and B, closing the Doors of Death."

"Don't forget Percy and Annabeth!" Grover interjected, looking appalled at Nico as though he couldn't believe he'd forget about them.

"Relax," Leo shrugged. "Calming Athena down _means _freeing Annabeth and Percy. All's good." Leo addressed the table at large again. "So . . . didn't the prophecy say something about returning stolen stuff."

"_You must return that which was taken_," Piper recited without a hitch. "I still remember it. Jason's reaction and what it said scared me too much."

Jason tensed beside her, and Leo, being an opportunistic runaway kid, leaped at the opportunity to find out what the secret was. "Hey, that reminds me. What was that about?"

"What was what about?" Grover asked, looking at Jason.

Piper answered instead. "We were talking to this undead seer named Idmon - he's dead again, by the way - and he gave us a prophecy. Jason had some sort of - panic attack?" She sounded unsure, glancing at her suddenly self-conscious boyfriend. Jason averted his eyes from everyone else's, running his fingers through his hair. Piper watched him hesitantly. "Jason? Are you okay, sweetie?"

Leo wanted to be surprised by the endearment, but he couldn't find it in himself to tease his best friend about it when Jason looked so pale. You'd have thought he hadn't gotten sunlight in days. Compared to him, the tan-less son of Hades had a surfer's tan rivaling Percy's.

Leo frowned. "Yo, bro, what's been eating at you? 'Cuz monsters are gonna do that enough without you helping them ou - "

Jason surged to his feet and turned his back to the crew, taking a shaky breath as he put his hands on his hips. Hedge and Grover stared at him - Grover in alarm and horror, Hedge in some sort of indifference anger (isn't that an oxymoron, Leo thought). Piper started to stand, but then Jason shot into a brief and poignant tirade.

"Lord Phoebus - Apollo - he told me that I'd have to choose between someone in my family and a friend. He also said that I'd screw it up and I shouldn't let biases get involved 'cuz it was really important. And then Idmon gave us that damned prophecy and I guess . . . I guess . . ." Jason let out a strangled cry and punched the couch hard enough to send it skidding back a few inches. The wood floor had scuff marks. "I'm sorry," he said finally, collapsing on the abused sofa and deflating as he buried his face in his hands. "Whichever of you it is, I'm really, really sorry."

Leo gaped at him for a moment. Part of him wanted to ask _Is it me? _but judging by Jason's estranged expression, if he did know, Leo didn't want to.

And that was where Leo completely lost any relevance in the room. Comforting people was not his thing. His idea of coping was building something collusive in three days and not sleeping or running away for five weeks and not sleeping. Either way, sleep was not conducive to feeling better. But Jason? His eyes were as dark as everyone else's, plus bloodshot, plus he looked flat-out _exhausted. _Superman he might be, but even Clark Kent needed to get some shut-eye.

"Jason, man," Leo said. "I think you need you need to get some sleep." With a glance around the room, he added, "I think we all do."

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "But we have to figure out the game-plan first. There's no way around that. And everyone has to be here for it."

Jason stood up and returned to his seat. Piper, without even waiting for his permission, walked over and sat in his lap, hands around his neck. Leo blinked, wondering with his friends had gotten _quite _so . . . clingy? Jason didn't seem to mind Piper using him as a chair in the slightest, wrapping his arms around his waist and making everyone _very _uncomfortable.

Frank's eyes, however, shined with a type of hurt jealousy. Leo knew he remembered Hazel. Leo remembered Hazel, too.

"Returning the Athena Parthenos has to happen," Nico said, ignoring the romantic entanglement before him. "and I think Athens is closer than Epirus, unless I've got my map screwed up."

"You're right," Piper agreed, looking at Nico. Nico seemed reluctant to address her when she was wrapped up with her boyfriend and he turned a little red. It was funny to watch. "Athens is just the other side of the isthmus. Epirus is much farther inland."

"And you know this . . . ?" Frank prompted, a little bit of animation returning to his features.

"Piper's dad did a movie when he was a Spartan," Leo said. "Beauty Queen was like, his unpaid secretary."

Piper laughed. "Anyway, we should probably handle that tomorrow. Judging by the rate we've been going, we'll take at least two days to get to Epirus."

The table turned to Leo, who shrugged. "If you want something _that _tight, I'll need to make adjustments. But this baby can make the trip." Leo caught Frank's horrified expression, as though something was just dawning on him. Leo knew his problem immediately. "But I don't know what to do to get Hazel."

The table hushed instantly when he mentioned the third MIA quest member. Leo sucked in a deep breath, wincing - he hated introducing touchy topics, but nobody else was leaping at the chance.

Jason's expression turned glum and he sighed. "Leo . . . I don't know if we have the time."

"What are you talking about?" Frank demanded, speaking the loudest he had the whole meeting. "'We don't have the time'? She's one of us!"

Jason nudged Piper off his lap and held up his hands once she wasn't an obstacle. Piper looked just as forlorn as Jason did. "Frank, we're going to save her, but . . . she wouldn't want us to ignore an impending World War because we had to take time off to rescue her."

"How do you know what she'd want?" Nico roared, coming to his feet. "You didn't know her at all. _I _knew her. _Zhang _knew her. _Percy _knew her. We all know her. You? You're somebody that was in her life, left it, and flew back in for a week. You don't know her."

"We almost died together, Nico," Piper intervened, reaching across the table to placate the two people closest to the missing daughter of Pluto. "We know her. Not as well as you, but . . ."

"We're going to get her," Leo told Frank, waving him off. "Jason's just being all _I'm the super disciplined praetor of Rome. _He does every now and then. He'll get over it."

"This isn't a joke, Leo," Jason snapped. "I'm serious here. We have to get our priorities straight, and it's not like we've been stalling or procrastinating or anything, but stuff has been happening outside of our control. Hazel will have to fend for herself until we can get to her."

"Which is as soon as possible," Frank prompted, eyes a little desperate.

"Not until after we close the Doors."

"You're kidding!" Leo cried. "What happened to the whole 'leave no man behind' thing?"

"That's the Marines, Leo," Piper said with a sigh. "We have to think about this logically. Can you seriously make the Argo II go to Athens, return the statue, take off, fight monsters, land in Epirus, fight more monsters, close the Doors, and free Hazel somewhere in and amidst _all _of that?" Leo nodded energetically. "Leo, you're amazing at what you do, but _nobody _is that good. And you don't know what's going to come after us."

"Exactly," Frank interrupted, voice a little fevered, like he was trying to emulate Piper's charmspeak. "What if we meet some bejeweled monster in The House of Hades? We'd need her help."

Jason laughed sardonically. "There is no such thing as a bejeweled monster," he assured Frank.

"You don't know that!" Leo accused. "What is Gaea created some weirdo thing for Hazel to fight?"

Piper just looked at him.

"It's possible!" Leo objected. "And . . . And giants! Isn't it, like, the best for the child of whatever god to fight the giant? So, if the giant is the Anti-Hades/Pluto-whatever, then we need Hazel, don't we?" Frank made a small, remorseful in his throat. "What?"

"The Anti-Pluto was killed," Nico sighed. "Hazel and Frank killed him on their quest with Percy."

Leo swallowed, seeing one of his reasons - more like both of them - getting shot down and nullified. He exchanged frantic looks with Nico and Frank, who seemed as panicked at getting out-argued as he was.

Leo decided his best chance was word-vomit. "What is your problem with her, anyway?" It was incredibly stupid and irrelevant and Leo _knew _it wasn't true, but he wasn't going to let Jason's overblown sense of sacrifice in the name of duty get Hazel killed. "You're willing to do _everything _but, but Hazel gets to kick the bucket? Did you two have an argument or something."

"No," Jason said automatically, and Leo thought, _so much with that plan. _"I want to get Hazel, I really do, but we have no way of tracking her at all. We don't know where she went after the ground collapsed, and even if we did - "

"She went underground, duh," Leo said, looking at Frank. This time, the son of Mars just gave him a weird look, like _we're demigods, douche. Yeah right. _"So we turn around a bit and check out Delphi . . ."

"We've already established that there _is no Delphi left_." Jason groaned. "When the ground caved in, _everything _went with it. You guys saw."

The three boys trying to argue for Hazel's life glanced away in shame. "We can't just leave her," Frank mumbled. "Come on, what if it was Piper?"

Jason's eyes turned pained. "Then I wouldn't be making the call."

"What?" Piper asked him, glancing up in alarm and taking his hand. "Jason, what do you mean?"

Jason breathed unevenly. "If Piper went missing, I'd have to let you guys decide. I'd be too close to it. Like you are to Hazel." He closed his eyes. "There's a reason a lot of the best commanders were so cold to their men - they couldn't form attachments and still make logical decisions. Neither can I. Neither can you."

"What are you saying?" Nico demanded, eyes flashing as he half-lunged across the table at Jason. "We care too much?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jason sighed, guilt shining in his eyes. "Frank, you're her boyfriend and you _obviously _care a lot about her - "

"_Excuse me_?" Nico roared, turning on Frank.

" - and Nico is her only surviving non-godly family member. Of course he's going to be close."

"And that's a problem?" Nico challenged.

"And Leo - I mean, come _on, _it's obvious you have a crush on her."

Nico looked like he was going to implode with that particular divulged piece of information and Leo saw fit, be it the truth or not (he'd maintain truth) that for survival purposes, placation was necessary. "Whoa!" Leo threw up his hands. "That's where you're _way _off, Jason. I just don't want to leave a crew-member in the dust like that. I _am _impartial."

Jason looked skeptical. Piper only watched Leo with way too much sympathy in her eyes, and it was beginning to piss him off. "Leo, then why are you so desperate over it?"

Leo gulped. "Because you're being idiots! That's why!"

The insult took a few people aback, and Leo caught Grover's eye. Even the empathic satyr looked unconvinced. And Coach Hedge? He actually snorted.

Piper sagged into her chair dejectedly. "I think the only thing to do at this point is call it into a vote."

"Well, we already know whose winning that one," Nico snapped. "You're two people. We're three."

Piper winced. "Actually, I was opening it up to the _entire _crew."

Grover and Hedge shifted uneasily, as though being called out on the floor was not their idea of fun. Leo looked at them both, hoping to see revulsion in their eyes about what Piper and Jason were talking about. Instead, he saw indifference and guilt.

"You guys already know what this vote is for," Piper told them. "Whether we risk not having enough time to complete the prophecy and saving Hazel or let her fend for herself until we can rescue her."

Jason lowered himself into his seat, as did Nico and Frank. Leo remained standing, flabbergasted by what had been unfolding.

Jason called the first vote. "Those in favor of returning to Delphi to try to find Hazel, raise your hands."

Leo, Nico and Frank didn't even hesitate in throwing their arms into the air. They were the only ones.

_Please abstain, _Leo thought to the satyrs. _Please abstain. Don't vote. Please abstain. _Leo lowered his arm, dread filling his heart as he watched the vote continue. He eyed the satyrs dangerously; if he couldn't change Piper's or Jason's minds, maybe he could scare Grover into relenting.

"Those in favor of continuing on the quest at the conceivable expense of Hazel's life," Piper almost whispered, sounding forlorn and reluctant. Her hand went up into the air slowly, and so did Jason's. Hedge was right behind them.

Leo watched the satyrs unblinkingly, begging Grover not to vote. If it was tie, they could argue more or leave it to the ship's commander to decide or something. As long as Grover didn't vote.

Grover gave him a sorrowful look and inched his hand into the air.

**I know I told you one thing before, I was being stupid or . . . I don't know what I was saying, actually. _The Temple of Apollo_, where Hazel fell, was actually considered a sort of gateway into Delphi by Ancient Greeks. So, in other words, it served as a gate. This will come up later in the narrative, but I misspoke earlier and I had to correct it. So, one line of the prophecy is completed.**

**And a massive thanks to "White Tiger of Onyx Star" for an incredibly wonderful review. I will love you forever and ever, no joke.**

**Please emulate White Tiger and make me love you too. In other words, review.**


	18. Chapter 18

_XVIII: LEO_

Leo couldn't believe his eyes. He stared at Grover, shaking his head, wondering how one stupid satyr could consistently make the room a good ten times more tense and awkward and grief-stricken.

Suddenly, Nico surged to his feet. "I hope you all feel wonderful now. You just killed Hazel Levesque." And then he stormed out, the shadows conforming to him as he stomped through the hall to his place of refuge in front of Percy's cabin.

Frank just looked at every member in the room with a cold, hateful glare (except Leo, who he shot a horrified one at) and picked up his bow, following Nico's example.

Leo shook his head. Part of him desperately wanted to find some lighthearted joke to ease the tension, but he felt like a murderer. Hazel was going to die because he couldn't get Jason to give a damn about anything but "the greater good". First he gets Percy and Annabeth tossed in Tartarus, then he gets Hazel killed. Great. Just wonderful.

"I'm going to get some sleep," Leo grumbled to himself. "I guess we should go to Athens first. Then Epirus. I doubt any additional plans are going to pull through." He didn't meet Piper's eyes, even though he could feel her silently begging him to. He wanted to be sick. His stomach was knotted with guilt and hate and grief. Tears were warm in his eyes. "You guys should probably get some shuteye too. I'll mess with the engine later."

Leo left then, heavy-hearted, lead-footed, and guilty beyond any semblance of rationality.

~1~

Leo collapsed onto his bed, head bouncing off the pillow slightly as he stared at the touch-activated screen above him. If something went wrong elsewhere in the ship, the entire thing would flash red, start screaming like a police siren on steroids, and bring out a blueprint of the Argo II with the exact area of trouble. But right then everything seemed to be in order.

Leo crossed his hands over his chest and sighed, remembering when he'd shared that memory with Hazel about his great grandfather. That had been freaky and yet really, really cool - then he found out she shared her death with Frank and got jealous. So, yeah, Jason wasn't far off on the whole "crushing on Hazel" thing, but who could blame Leo? The girl was so . . . perfect. She mixed all of the qualities Leo liked about woman - being unattainable and deadly, for example - with the knowing sympathy he hadn't been so warmed by since his mother. Falling in love with her hadn't been that difficult.

But he got it, too. Leo was the other guy, the dude she _might _go for if her and Frank didn't work out, which he seriously doubted, after seeing that kiss before she ran off after the giant. Gods, why did she have to be such a hero? She looked majestic running out there, caramel hair flying, rolling under the giant and doing all sorts of crazy maneuvers that did not help Leo's forbidden fascination with Pluto's daughter. And then she fell. Just like that. Gone. And Leo had to be the responsible, level-headed pilot who kept people from going nutters while his brain was screaming _Turn back! What are you doing? Turn back! _

Leo rolled over, punching his pillow into shape. He was still wearing all of his clothes, but that wasn't irregular for him. He was used to being a light, mostly-dressed sleeper on the streets. Anything could scare you on your feet, from monsters to crazy people with shovels (true story). It shouldn't have made sleeping any harder, especially as exhausted Leo was. But for all his fatigue, he couldn't close his eyes. He failed Hazel. He hated himself.

Eventually, the body took over. His eyes closed, and that was that.

Leo wasn't sure when he started dreaming, but it wasn't immediately. He was in a massive, crowded, hot place with thick smoke billowing around him from massive steam-punk looking machines. With barely any examination, Leo rated them as next to useless - inefficient, loud, high on pollution, and generally unsafe. He never would have built something that rumbled that badly.

Leo's hand weren't just covered in oil - they were dirty and cut, with one particular injury that had gotten infected. He didn't think it was his own hands, because they were bigger, firmer, and more calloused than the nimble fingers that had designed the Argo II.

He heard cursing from beside him and glanced up from securing a metal cylinder in a long wooden groove. It was a light-brown haired guy about thirteen. He coughed violently, covering his mouth and staring in horror at the broken wood in front of him. His hands were bloody from splinters.

"Patrick?" Leo asked, barely sliding the metal barrel into the groove and passing it along. "Are you okay?"

Patrick looked at him, eyes bloodshot and teary, and sighed, the coughing having subsided. "I'm too clumsy," he told him, an odd accent coloring his words, like someone who didn't speak very good English. "Mr. Rogers is gonna beat me."

Leo gritted his teeth together, a defensiveness rising inside of him for the sake of his friend. Patrick was wiry thin, like he hadn't eaten enough food in his entire life. He had shaggy hair that hung over dull, blue eyes, but it was wispy, like someone who had just begun chemotherapy. His cheeks were sallow, and his clothes were in some serious disrepair. On his left hand, there was a missing finger.

"No, he's not," Leo snapped, taking the broken wood and examining it. Then he groaned and threw it farther down the line. "Yes, he is."

Patrick groaned and took the closest piece of wood, working slowly and carefully to fit the barrel in.

Leo finished three for every one Patrick did, but everyone else was only doing two at Leo's speed. He compensated for Patrick's uncertain caution by being well-versed and nimble; the metal melded to his touch, the imperfections needing a little nudge to be repaired.

The machine's rumbling unnerved him. Leo couldn't shake the feeling it could implode or something catastrophic like that. After a while, it galled him so much that he _had _to check it out.

He finished the rifle - that realization hit him with no faltering or surprise - and let it go down the line, walking over to the massive wall between the two sides of the conveyor belt. A lot of the wires and inner-mechanics were exposed, which was so unsafe it wasn't even funny. The chances one of the little kids would stick their hands in their and lose it was pretty likely. And Leo saw kids working at, like, five. He was an older worker, actually.

There was a spring loose, he noticed, pressing against one of the exhaust tubes. It made getting rid of the overwhelming exhaust next to impossible for the machine, and the gunk had started to build up. Leo scowled, reaching his hand in - do not copy me, children, he thought - and fiddling with the stuff working inside. He scrunched up his face in concentration, wrapping his fingers around the spring and -

"Lee!" Patrick hissed. "What are ya doing? Matthew lost h's arm doing th't!"

"Matthew isn't me," Leo snapped back. "Now shut up. I'm working."

Patrick made a horrible lookout; he glanced around like a man with something to hide, jumping every time something bumped or tapped around him. Leo tried not to snap at him - he was trying, but his inconspicuousness needed some serious work. After a couple hushed warnings from Patrick (namely, every time he saw someone in shouting distance, whether they looked their direction or not) Leo managed to adjust the spring and pop it back into place.

Leo coughed, pulling his arm out of harm's way and wheezing as tons of smoke condensed around him, a suffocating blackness that Leo's waves couldn't disperse. Leo staggered, bumping into a warm body, as the smoke began to clear. The darkness receded, and it was clearer than before. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable.

"What do you think you're doing?" a sneering voice inquired from behind Leo.

Leo whirled around, the receding smoke revealing a permanently frowning dark-haired man in significantly better clothes than anyone else in the factory. He wore an expensive purple shirt with weird words on it - Leo could read, unlike most of the children he knew, because his mother taught him. But whatever the lettering was on the kid's shirt, it wasn't the strange looking one Leo was somewhat fluent in, or English. Twinkling eyes concealed a snakelike opportunism, and he was well-washed. There was a bit of dust on his face from the smoke, but other than that, almost untouched.

Leo chuckled, backing up to Patrick and shrugging as he continued assembling the rifles. 1842 Springfield muskets were a hassle to put together, being one continual piece of work. Leo could think of a million ways for them to be improved - a collapsible buttstock, shorter barrel with minor adjustments to the gunpowder-to-mass ratio of the bullets, complex, small bullets that encapsulated the powder and blast cap all in one. Of course, when he pointed out these adjustments to Mr. Rogers, the man just scoffed and told him to "stop being an aspiring simpleton and busy himself with approachable tasks." Little did he know Leo fixed most of the machines that would cost him hundreds of dollars if they hadn't been altered.

"I asked you a question," the tattletale boy insisted, arms crossed in such unfailing arrogance Leo had to resist the urge to punch him hard in the face.

Leo chewed his lower lip. "I'm working, Owen. Isn't that what I'm supposed to die? Work?"

Leo caught Patrick smirking as he fumbled with a musket, flashing him an encouraging, if a slightly envious look before scowling at the barrel, as though fighting to figure out how everything fit together. Knowing Owen, Leo made it a sworn duty to keep him distracted so he didn't call Mr. Rogers and whip poor Patrick within an inch of his life.

Leo felt a cold hand on my shoulder, spinning him around. He dropped what he was working on, and Owen's arm pressed against his throat, pale eyes wild and insane as he held Leo's gaze. Leo caught his breath. Next to him, Patrick tensed like he wanted to intervene, but Leo held up a pacifying hand. With his missing finger and limping left leg, Owen would batter him lifeless in seconds.

Leo maintained a steely, indifferent stare as he met Owen's eyes. His pupils were dilated. "You don't know the man you mock, do you?" Psychosis flickered through those enlarged orbs, and a chill ran up the length of his spine. "You don't know what I can do to you."

"Leave 'im alone, Owen," Patrick told him, voice defiant but meek. Patrick was not a scraper. He was the scrawny, abused orphan kid whose mother had been killed unexpectedly by what he described as a one-eyed monster and his father had never been a part of his life. Leo could sympathize with him there, even though Patrick didn't know that; Leo's father abandoned his mother when she was pregnant. It was only his uncle's intervention that saved them from starvation.

Owen sneered at Patrick. "Would you like to stop me, Patrick?" he challenged. When Patrick looked away, fumbling with the rifle, Owen scoffed and turned his attention back to Leo. "One day, Lee, you're going to feel the sting of being unwanted_, _undesired_, _unnecessary_. _You won't be the idol to everyone until your dying day - you won't be the educated boy in a room of sheep. One day, you're going to learn how it feels to be weak, defenseless, hopeless. You're going to realize that your bravado and exuberance are shackles of lesser men. You'll realize that the only strength comes from domineering. Or you're going to pay a very, very bitter price."

Owen threw Leo back against the machine, dusting off his clothes, and smiled as though they'd exchanged a few words of friendly greeting. "I will see you both later, Lee, Patrick. Goodbye."

His lithe retreating form left a shroud of ominousness hovering over their heads.

Patrick trembled with suppressed fury, jaw set and eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry," he hissed. "I should ha' helped. I'm useless." He looked up at Leo, eyes shining with admiration. "You ha' no idea how brave you are, standing up to 'im. Don't listen to what he tells you. You're always gonna to be a hero. It's who you are."

Leo rolled his eyes and clapped Patrick on the back, wiping his brow of a few beads of sweat and returning to work, which had gotten backlogged in those moments while he worked on the machine and Owen menaced him. But Leo couldn't shake the fear that Owen's eyes had invoked in him, almost as if he _knew, _beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what he said would come to pass. Leo's greatest fear. Becoming the nobody.

Leo shook it off. His hands moved even faster, hurrying to finish his quota before the day was out, lest Mr. Rogers deduct it from all of their pay.

Suddenly, the doors exploded open. Leo whirled around with a unison of other workers, all gasping in alarm at the small boy wearing a ratty cap and rumpled clothes. There was a pile of papers under his arm, and Leo instantly identified him as one of those harassing newsies running around New York, bellowing about make-believe headlines.

But, judging by the look on his face, this was no joke. Then Leo remembered what day it was. November 6. The day of the election.

Leo held his breath, waiting for the verdict, praying with every ounce of his being that it wasn't Douglas. Please don't be Douglas, please don't be Douglas, please don't be Douglas. Leo could hear everyone chanting the some thing under their breath.

The newsie stood there, wide-eyed. And then he threw the papers over his head and shouted, "Lincoln won!"

A collective cheer rang out in the factory, and even as Mr. Rogers came down wielding his cane as a lethal weapon, the children did not quiet down. The adults held their children and each other in relief, and various souls danced shamelessly about. They won. The no-good slobs of the south weren't going to have their way. They won.

After all the excitement died down, Mr. Rogers announced that everyone would have a quarter deduction for the unprofessional chaos. Then he stormed back into his office after rapping a young boy on the head with his cane and collapsing him like a pile of bricks. Another girl with dark hair like the boy's rushed to his side, shouting, "Nicolas!"

Everything eased back to the normal, the newsie having vanished. A massive smile plastered itself to Leo's face, and he found it impossible to kill it. He knew Mr. Rogers would be angry for the next week for it - he only moved to the north from his childhood plantation for money. Slavery was not a problem for him, and he preferred Douglas's ideals. Leo couldn't care less; they won. Lincoln would set things right. Everyone knew that.

Patrick looked a little less enthusiastic as everyone else, morose as he assembled the parts. "What's wrong?" Leo asked, mostly out of habit because Patrick constantly regretted something for unhealthy amounts of time. "If it's about Owen . . ."

"'s not," he admitted, working a little smoother with the rifles. He probably just picked it up.

"Then what is it?" Leo passed down the rifle to a brown-haired girl in frumpy rags like everyone else.

Patrick hesitated before answering, as though considering his words. "You know how the . . . _uthers _have been about Lincoln getting elected."

Leo frowned at Patrick's avoidance of the slew worth of slanders for the Southern people but ignored it. He was just one of those people. "Yeah. But they didn't win. We did."

"That's jis it," he pressed, looking up at Leo with trepid eyes. "I mean, what if they takes it as an attack? You know everyone think Lincoln's gonna' to abolish slavery. What if they're right? Or they're not, and the South does something anyway?" Patrick's eyes looked really, really scared right then. "What if they declare war?"

Leo blinked at the sideways fear, not understanding how his friend had arrived at the preposterous idea. "Why would they do that?" he demanded. "It doesn't make any sense."

Patrick didn't answer.

"You have to have reason," Leo insisted, not willing to let a piece of information slip his grasp. Leo's easily distracted tendencies often stretched toward furthering his knowledge; in a world where the uneducated were the majority and the subjugated, Leo strove to know the most and be the strongest. For a kid with nothing but a mother who was dying from a disease no one understood, it was all he could do to survive.

Patrick looked around and jerked his forefinger in - his middle was the one missing. "I had a dream that we was fighting 'ginst them. You called them 'rebels'."

Leo snorted, but stopped himself when he saw Patrick mortified expression. "You can't be serious?" he breathed. "Patrick, they're not going to declare war. It's just a dream. Relax."

Patrick didn't look reassured. He passed Leo the rifle and he cemented it in place before carrying it down the line. Patrick was silent until dusk, at which point he barely spoke a word of farewell before hurrying with the horde of bodies fleeing home for the scraps of dinner they had. Leo resolved himself to scavenging - his uncle had denied his mother and he the rations for the week because Leo yelled at him when he hit his mother. Now they had to find their own means of subsistence.

Leo sneaked around behind Mr. Rogers office, where he threw out the excess food he ate like a pig. He gathered up the meat and vegetables, slightly stained by oil, and ran home before his employer saw him.

When he went to bed that night after eating in secret with his mom, he thought about Patrick's reserves after Lincoln's victory and laughed. His friend could be very imaginative when he wanted to be.

~2~

Leo - the real Leo - bolted awake, gasping for air when the dream ended. He rapped heads with Piper, who shook him firmly, looking worried.

"Leo?" she asked, prompting a response and holding her head. "Are you okay? You were coughing and tossing in your sleep. Was it a nightmare?"

"No, Pen - " Leo caught himself, frowning. Penny? Who was Penny? There hadn't even been a Penny in his dream. "It was nothing, Pipes, Just a really weird dream."

"Demigod?"

Leo shook his head. "Nah. I think I watched Gettysburg a few days ago or somethin'. I din't know."

Piper scowled. "You're talking really funny. Are you sure you're okay?"

Leo nodded and waved her off. "Don't sweat it, Beauty Queen. I'll get to that engine in a minute."

Piper sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Okay, but you'll have to do it _after _we return the statue." Leo frowned at her, arching an eyebrow, and Piper elaborated. "We're hanging over Athens right now. We need you to land us."

Leo found himself a little taken aback; he hadn't planned to sleep that long. But it wasn't a problem. He kicked his feet over the side of his bed and changed clothes once Piper left. But as he shrugged into his green tee that he'd bought at a mortal supermarket, he remembered the dream. Being Lee, the sneaky know-it-all sleuth of the past. He felt every sensation again. That guy knew things Leo just didn't know - then again, an active imagination was nothing new. Leo was known for strange dreams around his peers. It was just his brain taking pieces of information he'd heard in passing and making up the rest, more than likely.

He deliberately distracted himself by thinking about how he was going to save Hazel despite the consensus of the crew, but he shut his door behind him with a flashback to the factory. And the smoke. He coughed sympathetically with his dream-self, then shook it off. This was not going to freak him out as much as it wanted to. No way, Jose.

But he knew one thing for sure: His dream-self was an idiot. Patrick's dream was absolutely right; the North and South went to war over slavery and Lincoln and a bunch of other stuff Leo didn't care to know about. It was bloody, it was long, and it happened simultaneously with the Greeks and the Romans battling it out.

Which made him wonder: Is someone trying to tell me something?


End file.
